UNITED STATES legislators have rebuffed an EU request to delay rolling out new high-security passports. The European Commission warned of long visa delays for millions of transatlantic tourists and executives. The US wants all countries whose citizens do not need a visa to enter the US on a 90-day trip, to issue new passports containing a computer chip with a digital photograph of the holder by 25 October. The EU says it will not be ready in time and to avoid lengthy visa application delays it has asked Washington to extend the deadline to 28 August 2006. "I must advise such an outcome is unlikely," the chairman of the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee chairman James Sensenbrenner said in a letter to the EU, rebuffing the request. "The increased awareness and concern, of both the American public and most members of Congress, regarding continued weakness in US border security, will make an additional extension difficult to accomplish. The American travel industry has said the US economy could lose $10bn to $15bn a year if the visa waivers no longer apply.
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