The checklist urges states to involve stakeholders early, familiarize themselves with foreign data-protection issues, check that the appropriate legislation is in place, seek assistance from experts including IATA, ICAO and the WCO, and cooperate closely with other national agencies.
But the biggest challenge currently is data-protection concerns, which are much more prevalent in some countries than others, particularly European countries.
“The concept of harmonized data sharing is great, but the problem is how to achieve it when different governments have different rules,” says Barrett. “Europe has enough difficulty deciding on its own legislation.”
Indeed, the European Parliament is still debating a draft EU PNR Directive, proposed in 2011, that would oblige airlines to provide EU countries with PNR data for passengers entering or leaving the EU, to help authorities fight serious crime and terrorism.
The proposal was rejected last April by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee, which the Parliament says questioned the proportionality of the proposed scheme “for the collection, use and retention of airline passengers’ data (irrespective of whether or not they are suspects) and its compliance with fundamental rights, especially data protection”.
The US provides a potentially more hopeful picture. Barrett reports that due to “views on terrorism and homeland security changing drastically after 9/11”, the US government has enacted legislation forcing airlines to hand over PNR data on all passengers taking flights to and from the US.
There are also signs of a mood shift in Europe. The European Parliament reports that debate on the proposed EU PNR ¬Directive that reopened in late February has “gained momentum due to concerns over possible threats to the EU’s internal security posed by Europeans returning home after fighting abroad for terrorist groups”. It says the debate¬—and potential moves to expand the pool of data European governments are ¬authorized to collect¬—is “again under the spotlight” following the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris.
“From an industry perspective we are neutral as to whether governments should choose to request and use PNR data or not. But we are in favour of the EU PNR directive because it provides harmonization over 28 states,” says IATA’s Laurent, outlining why the debate being under the spotlight once again is a positive development.
“What is needed now is a concerted effort to reach a globally acceptable political solution to concerns relating to the sharing and processing of personal data.
“It would be ideal if the United Nations was given real teeth to enforce a harmonized approach between governments. But in reality this won’t happen, so pressure has to come from the airlines,” says Barrett. “The industry has got to lobby to get the tools to achieve this. I don’t see any other way around this issue because there is no absolute international legislator.”
And it could take a long, sustained period of pressure before there are any changes. “We’ve seen in the past that trying to get countries to voluntarily follow codes is very difficult,” says Barrett. “Clearly, the sooner individual states can be convinced to adopt harmonized passenger data exchange processes within their own national programs, the better.”
IATA is spearheading pressure through its efforts to persuade countries to follow standardized guidelines. The new API-PNR toolkit can be accessed via www.iata.org and it contains introductory presentations and videos, checklists and reference materials.
“We invite all public authorities with an interest in passenger data to refer to this toolkit and engage with global partners, including airlines and other governments, to achieve strong, modern and efficient borders in the years to come,” says Tyler.