The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) today published its Final Rule concerning the Advanced Passenger Information System (APIS). The APIS rule requires “the electronic transmission of manifest information for passengers and crew members onboard commercial vessels and aircraft, in advance of arrival in and departure from the United States, and for crew members and non-crew members onboard commercial aircraft that continue within (foreign air carriers only) and overfly the United States, in advance of the departure of those flights.”
Air carriers are required to provide certain travel itinerary data, aircraft/flight, and personal identification information, including name, gender, date of birth, citizenship, travel document data, and status onboard the aircraft. APIS data must be submitted: (i) For passenger flights into the United States, 15 minutes after departure from a foreign port or place; (ii) for passenger flights departing the United States, 15 minutes prior to departure from the United States; (iii) for crew members (on passenger and all-cargo flights) and non-crew members (limited to all-cargo flights), 60 minutes prior to the departure of any covered flight from a foreign port, the U.S. port of departure, or the U.S. port of arrival en route to a second U.S. port, as applicable.
The Final Rule is organized into seven sections: I. The Customs Interim Rule–Summary of rule published in the Federal Register on December 31, 2001; II. The INS NPRM–Summary of INS NPRM published on January 3, 2003; III. TSA Requirements–Provisions incorporated into this final rule in order to assist TSA in carrying out its aviation security responsibilities with respect to crew members and non-crew members of commercial aircraft; IV. Governmental Reorganization Pursuant to the Homeland Security Act–Discussion of the new Department of Homeland Security and its effect in combining the border security and inspectional functions of Customs and INS into one agency; V. Discussion of Comments–Discussion of comments received by CBP in response to the Customs Interim Rule and the INS NPRM; VI. Changes to the Interim and Proposed Regulatory Texts–Summary of changes made to the Customs Interim Rule and the INS NPRM in this final rule, including changes made to assist TSA; and VII. Conclusion. The Final Rule is effective June 6, 2005. If you would like more information regarding the Final Rule, contact Tricia Kennedy (202) 344-1229 or Charles G. Perez (202-344-2605), Office of Field Operations, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
In connection with the Final Rule, the Department of Homeland Security also published a Notice containing a privacy impact assessment and privacy policy for APIS. The Noticeprovides a detailed explanation of the APIS system and the collection, use, disclosure and retention of the passenger data collected. Comments regarding the privacy issues are due on or before May 9, 2005 and may be submitted using any of the methods indicated in the Notice. For more information regarding the privacy notice, you can contact Charles Perez, Program Manager, Office of Field Operations, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection at (202) 344-2605 or Nuala O’Connor Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Homeland Security at (202) 772-9848.
