On Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 April, the EU Council Working Party on Information Exchange discussed the regulations on ‘advance passenger information’ (API) presented by the Commission in December (see EUROPE 13083/13).
The Member States discussed an initial compromise proposal from the Swedish Presidency on Chapters 1 to 3 (Articles 1 to 14) of the regulation on ‘the collection and transfer of advance passenger information for facilitating external border controls’.
In December the Commission proposed a revision of the current API (advance passenger information) directive through two draft regulations on the ‘collection and transfer of advance passenger information for facilitating external border controls’ and on the ‘collection and transfer of advance passenger information for the prevention and detection of terrorist offences and serious crime’.
The new rules, which are intended to ensure that all Member States collect and use API data in the same way on all incoming flights, also require air carriers to provide API data on intra-EU flights.
API data is the data collected during boarding and check-in and is intended to verify that the data presented by a traveller at that time coincides with the reservation data collected under the PNR directive. API data is only kept for 48 hours.
The amendments in the 24 March compromise do not change this 48-hour period and the competent authorities must still delete “immediately and permanently that API data after the expiry of that time period”.
However, the text adds, “this is without prejudice to the possibility for air carriers to retain and use the data where necessary for the normal course of their business in compliance with applicable law”. This point is added several times.
The changes also concern the correction and updating of API data collected and processed in error or illegally.
The Presidency also asked the Member States about the need to collect API data on flights from Member States that are not in the Schengen area but which may join it, such as Romania, Bulgaria or Cyprus, and about the situation of Ireland, which is not in the Schengen area but wishes to adopt these rules.
At the beginning of March, the Presidency also sounded out the Member States on whether to extend the API rules to other modes of transport.
Links to documents: https://aeur.eu/f/67i ; https://aeur.eu/f/67l ; https://aeur.eu/f/680 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)