OSCE organizes workshop on Advance Passenger Information System in Skopje

A workshop on how to establish an Advance Passenger Information (API) System in Skopje, aimed at preventing the movement of foreign terrorist fighters and combating terrorism and transnational crime, was organized by the OSCE Transnational Threats Department’s Border Security and Management Unit (TNTD/BSMU) in Skopje from 12 to 14 December 2017.

API is an electronic communications system which enables the collection of biographical data from a passenger’s travel document by airlines and transmits it to border control agencies before a flight’s departure or arrival at the destination. By checking the data against law enforcement watch lists, such as those of INTERPOL, border officials can know whether inadmissible persons are attempting to enter their country before they actually arrive at their borders.

The workshop brought together 20 representatives from all agencies involved in passenger processing in the country, including border police officers, airport and civil aviation authorities, customs officials, and data protection experts. “The event provided an excellent opportunity to understand the benefits and functions of API for better regulating the exit, entry and transit of air passenger and to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current national passenger processing environment,” said Steven Davis, Head of the Public Safety and Community Outreach Department at the OSCE Mission to Skopje.

“The growth in passenger traffic that we have experienced in recent years, added to the threat posed by international terrorism, means that the co-ordination between border control agencies needs to be reinforced, particularly through the exchange of operational information,” said Agim Nuhiu, Deputy Interior Minister. “Establishing an API system would allow our country to conduct passenger risk assessments in advance while fully respecting the citizens’ right to privacy.”

Participants greatly benefited from the presence of international experts at the workshop. Border police officers from Italy and the Netherlands shared their experience in implementing and using API systems, while representatives from the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Customs Organization (WCO) talked about the technical and legislative support that they can provide to national authorities for API implementation.

The event was the fifth national workshop on enhancing the implementation of API systems that the OSCE has organized since December 2016. In 2018, TNTD/BSMU plans to conduct more national workshops in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, in response to the requests for assistance coming from OSCE participating States in regard to border management. The fact that some of these countries have already started to develop API implementation plans represents a good opportunity for OSCE engagement, as a means of providing national authorities with recommendations on good practices and potential pitfalls before they embark on the actual implementation process.