A European Union privacy panel wants Web search engine providers like Google and Yahoo to delete notes taken from users after six months, even when they operate abroad.

The new report from the EU-funded privacy watchdog recommended that search engines follow European input protection rules regardless of their headquarters’ location.

Although the watchdog has no policy powers, its report could lead to stricter privacy rules. The EU’s executive, the European Commission, is currently redrafting data-protection rules for the 27-nation bloc.

The panel’s report said search engines fall under EU laws whether they gather users’ numeric Net Protocol, or IP, addresses or track search history using a strange ID on small details files called cookies installed on users’ computers.

Most search engines, including Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.’s MSN and moment Warner Inc.’s AOL, do so to gather insights on usage.

Germany’s info protection commissioner Peter Scharr said in January that IP addresses should generally be regarded as personal

IP addresses consist of a string of numbers that identifies individual computers on the Web so that a search engine would know where to return results.

Search engines have generally regarded IP addresses as anonymous knowledge considering they aren’t necessarily linked to personal documents about individuals. However, they can reveal the individual’s location or service provider, from which a company or government agency armed with a subpoena can track down the individual.

Treating IP addresses as personal info would have implications for how search engines record the info they need to understand search patterns and correctly bill online advertisers for the number of times their ad is viewed.

The documents can be a boon to advertisers for targeting pitches based on a user’s taste for specific clothing, music or cars, but search companies additionally say the input help them produce products better and safer.

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