Delegates from the WCO, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao) met at the WCO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium from 21 to 22 November to discuss matters relating to advance passenger data in the framework of the WCO/IATA/ICAO Advance Passenger Information (API) - Passenger Name Record (PNR) Contact Committee.
The 10th Session of the Contact Committee was attended by 84 delegates from the WCO, Icao and Iata as well as from other international organisations. The work of the Contact Committee is to ensure the API and PNR Guidelines are aligned with the WCO’s security initiatives, specifically those on passenger control.
During the session, Committee members finalised and adopted the update of the “Management Summary on Passenger-related Information”, known as the “Umbrella Document”, which provides a high-level executive briefing describing and distinguishing between the different sources and systems for passenger-related information. The update of the document is aimed at enhancing the consistency of the terms used therein, as well as reflecting recent developments relating to advance passenger data.
Contact Committee delegates noted the increased demand from countries to implement API and PNR systems. In this regard, new “Guidance on how to build API-PNR systems” was proposed and developed by members in order to provide insight into the important aspects that need to be considered when implementing API-PNR systems. The draft of the Guidance was discussed during the session and received comments and further input from Committee members. Delegates adopted the new Guidance, in principle, as a living document and they will provide further input in writing prior to the document’s submission for endorsement by the WCO Permanent Technical Committee (PTC) in April 2017.
The Contact Committee undertook technical work on the maintenance of the API Message Implementation Guide by processing a Data Maintenance Request (DMR) submitted by the United Kingdom and by discussing the development of the XML format for API, working together with the WCO Data Model Project Team (DMPT) and the Iata PNRGOV Working Group.
