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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations require commercial air carriers to electronically transmit passenger information to CBP’s Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) prior to an aircraft’s arrival in or departure from the United States.  CBP proposes to amend these regulations to incorporate additional carrier requirements that will enable CBP to validate each passenger’s travel documents prior to the passenger boarding the aircraft.  This proposed rule would also require air carriers to transmit additional data elements through APIS for all commercial aircraft passengers arriving in the United States in order to support border operations and national security.  The collection of additional data elements will support the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control, within the Department of Health and Human Services, to monitor and contract-trace health incidents.

Statement of Need:

Current regulations require U.S. citizens and foreign travelers entering and leaving the United States via air travel to submit travel documents containing biographical information, such as a passenger’s name and date of birth. For security purposes, CBP compares the information on passengers’ documents to various databases and the terrorist watch list through APIS and recommends that air carriers deny boarding to those deemed inadmissible. To further improve CBP’s vetting processes with respect to identifying and preventing passengers with fraudulent or improper documents from traveling or leaving the United States, CBP proposes to require carriers to receive from CBP a message that would state whether CBP matched the travel documents of each passenger to a valid, authentic travel document prior to departure to the United States from a foreign port or place or departure from the United States. The proposed rule also would require carriers to submit passenger contact information while in the United States to CBP through APIS. Submission of such information would enable CBP to identify and interdict individuals posing a risk to border, national, and aviation safety and security more quickly. Collecting these additional data elements would also enable CBP to further assist CDC to monitor and trace the contacts of those involved in serious public health incidents upon CDC request. Additionally, the proposed rule would allow carriers to include the aircraft tail number in their electronic messages to CBP and make technical changes to conform with current practice.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

The proposed rule would result in additional opportunity costs of time to CBP, air carriers, and passengers for coordination required to resolve a passenger’s status should there be a security issue. In addition, CBP has incurred costs for technological improvements to its systems. CBP, air carriers, and passengers would benefit from reduced passenger processing times during customs screening. Unquantified benefits would result from greater efficiency in passenger processing pre-flight, improved national security, and fewer penalties for air carriers following entry denial of a passenger.