Recommended Practice 1701a

Background:
Contracting States have long recognized that passenger data supplied by airline
operators is a critical element of the States border control and risk management
processes. The PNRGOV message is designed to provide a consistent approach for all
Aircraft Operators required to provide PNR information to States. From this effort, we
anticipate adoption of a single globally-agreed list of common data elements necessary
to support all existing national data exchange requirements, and those which may be
developed and implemented in the future. PNRGOV was developed by the PADIS Board
and will be endorsed by ICAO in its Document 9944.

Problem:
Various data exchange requirements, imposed at the national level by various States,
have been introduced. The absence of common objectives and clear agreement on
process among Contracting States has resulted in the proliferation of sometimesconflicting national requirements. Standards, recommended practices and guidance
materials, as agreed by ICAO and the World Customs Organization (WCO), already
exist for collection and transmission of passenger data. However, the lack of full
harmonization means that too often, there are requests for data elements that are not
incorporated into existing international standards. Airline operators incur programming
and implementation costs when preparing to comply with data exchange programs of
various States. Those costs increase exponentially and the ability for airline operators to
comply is significantly impacted when the program being implemented is not consistent
with international norms.

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Recommended Practice 1701a

Passenger Data Harmonization
RECOMMENDED that Aircraft Operators, States and Airports work together to
exchange Passenger Data to enhance national, aviation and border security and
passenger facilitation.

1. INTRODUCTION
States have long recognized that passenger data supplied by Aircraft Operators is a
critical element of the States border control and risk management processes.
A growing number of States require Aircraft Operators to provide Passenger Data
related to certain travel and reservation information held in an Aircraft Operators
reservation and/or departure control system. Various Passenger Data exchange
requirements, often in different message formats, have resulted in the proliferation of
sometimes conflicting national requirements.

2. SCOPE
This Recommended Practice on Passenger Data Harmonization is intended to provide a
global framework on agreed Passenger Data elements and a standard way to transmit
the Passenger Data elements between States and Aircraft Operators systems.
This RP is not intended to cover the following aspects:

Laws or Regulations
Data Transmission protocol and/or timing
Data Processing
Filtering of Data
Storage of Data
Data Protection

These aspects are covered by ICAO Doc 9944, and are managed through a bilateral
arrangement between the States and Aircraft Operators as defined by national
legislation.

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3. PURPOSE
The purpose of this RP is to standardize Passenger Data collection and transmission to:
minimize cost to the industry
improve the quality of Passenger Data that States receive
enable the identification of potentially high-risk passengers with the objective to
improve national, aviation and border security

facilitate the clearing of low risk travelers

The recommendations also seeks to assist States in determining data requirements and
developing procedures in order to minimize unilaterally imposed data transfer that differs
substantially from one State to another (or that differ substantially between States).

4. PASSENGER DATA ELEMENTS

For States requesting Passenger Data in addition to specific travel document details, it is
recommended that the message structure and content of PNRGOV developed by the
PADIS Board and to be endorsed by ICAO in its Document 9944 be adopted. The
PNRGOV message is designed to provide a consistent approach for all Aircraft
Operators required to provide PNR information to States. In an effort to standardize the
PNRGOV message structure, the PADIS Board has developed the Principles,
Functional and Business Requirements document, which is intended to provide
guidance to Aircraft Operators, system suppliers and States that are implementing the
PNRGOV message. The information contained in the document should be utilized in
conjunction with the PNRGOV EDIFACT Implementation Guide.

4.1 PNRGOV Message Modifications

Under an agreement between IATA and the World Customs Organization (WCO),
maintenance of the PNRGOV message format, and control over the authorization of
modifications to that message structure, will be assumed by the WCO. Coordination of
actual amendments of the message structure itself will fall under the remit of the WCO
API Contact Committee which is comprised of the WCO, IATA and ICAO Secretariats,
as well as interested States. Any interested party may recommend modifications to the
PNRGOV message structure by use of the existing WCO Data Modification Request
(DMR). The change process is described in the Message Modifications Approved
Revision Process PNRGOV Document.

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