The European Commission is shelving plans for airport security checks that would show passengers naked on a scanner screen, condemned by critics as a "virtual strip search".
Opposition to the plan in the European Parliament had threatened to delay a wider airport security proposal that
includes dropping an EU ban on liquids in hand luggage, European Commission transport spokesman Fabio Pirotta said.
"We want to move on with our aviation security proposal and abandon the liquid ban from April 2010," Mr Pirotta said.
"So we are withdrawing the (body scanner) proposal...so we can go ahead and move on with the liquids."
But he added that the EU executive would try to introduce body scanners in the future.
"We are going to come back with it. The European Commission is convinced that body scanners can play an important role as a complementary means of screening," Mr Pirotta said.
The ban on liquids above certain small quantities of toiletries, introduced after the September 11th, 2001 attacks, would only be lifted if technology to scan liquids was available, he added.
EU lawmakers opposed the full-body scanner proposal last month, some saying it was equivalent to "a virtual strip search" that breached fundamental rights.
Reuters