Advance Passenger Information

Background:

Existing passenger service systems are ineffective and need to be improved, particularly to ensure the smooth flow of passengers. According to 2019 figures by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, 4.5 billion passengers travelled by air on scheduled services, with over half a billion entering or leaving the EU every year. Advance Passenger Information (API) data is currently unevenly processed across the EU, resulting in security gaps and uncertainty, both for air-carriers and national authorities. The Commission's proposal for two Regulations on the collection and transfer of advance passenger information (API) for enhancing and facilitating external border controls, and for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of terrorist offences and serious crime, aim to address such inconsistencies and ensure that API data are processed with clear rules and transparency.

Key points:

In the opinion, the EESC:

•  agrees with the need for effective collection and transfer of advanced passenger information (API) and passenger name records (PNR) data for border management purposes and for combatting illegal immigration, as well as for security reasons, including the need to prevent and combat terrorism and serious crime;

•  recognises the need for harmonised implementation and monitoring of the applicable legal framework to eliminate differences resulting from varied practices in Member States, increase legal certainty, accelerate passenger flow and reduce administrative difficulties for air carriers;

•  suggests further clarifying the norms on penalties imposed on private operators in the aviation industry and proposes a "threshold of tolerance" at EU level to be considered for errors in collecting and transferring the data. Penalties should be imposed on carriers in case of non-cooperation or failure to achieve minimum, EU-defined, acceptable quality levels for API data.

The text of the draft opinion can be found here.

Additional information

Section: Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship (SOC)

Opinion number: SOC/751

Opinion type: Optional

Rapporteur: Tymoteusz Adam ZYCH

Reference: Referral COM (2022) 729 final 2022/0424 COD; COM(2022) 731 final 2022/0425 COD

Date of adoption by section: 03/04/2023

Result of the vote: 71 in favour / 0 against / 1 abstention

Date of adoption in plenary: 27/04/2023

Result of the vote: 137 in favour / 0 against / 0 abstentions

Contacts:

Press officer:  Laura Lui          

Tel.:     00 32 2 546 9189

email:   laurairena.lui@eesc.europa.eu

Administrator: Gemma Amran

Tel.:     00 32 2 546 9415

email:   Gemma.Amran@eesc.europa.eu