By Xinhua,
Brussels : The European Commission Friday decided to make public a list of items which passengers would be banned from carrying on board aircraft.
The security rules had previously been kept out of the public domain for security reasons, said European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, who is in charge of transport affairs.
“The experience we gained enables us to have greater transparency without prejudicing security,” he explained.
The publication of the European Union (EU) list of prohibited articles would make it easier for passengers to know what they can carry on board an aircraft, said the commission, the executive body of the EU.
The decision will not change the existing legislation relating to aviation security. Rather, the aim is to place a significant proportion of the rules into the public domain, without compromising aviation security, it said.
Certain elements that are deemed sensitive would not be published. The European Commission had been under pressure to publish the list of banned items.
A German air passenger, Gottfried Heinrich, took the issue to the European Court of Justice after he was ordered to leave a plane in Vienna in 2005, as he was carrying tennis racquets.
The court is yet to announce its judgment on this case.