OSCE and Mediterranean Partners discuss ways to implement Advance Passenger Information systems and enhance regional co-operation

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department’s Border Security and Management Unit (BSMU) organized a two-day workshop for representatives of relevant agencies in Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia on establishing an Advance Passenger Information (API) system for preventing the movement of foreign terrorist fighters and enhancing aviation security on 8 and 9 December 2020.

The workshop, which was held online, aimed at presenting the benefits of an API system, current implementing challenges, technical requirements, the importance of strong inter-agency co-operation and a comprehensive legal framework.

Participants also engaged in interactive tabletop exercises to reflect on practical aspects of implementing an API system such as the collection of passenger data while fully respecting travellers’ right to privacy, as well as adhering to international commitments on the collection and processing of API data, laid down in various United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions.

“Our world, our regions, continue to evolve and present new challenges and risks for border and travel security, but also new opportunities for co-operation between countries and organizations,” said Dennis Cosgrove, Head of BSMU, opening the event. “As the nature of terrorism and other forms of organized crime changes constantly, there is a need for a strengthened response to this ever-evolving transnational threat - the response for which we must continue to collaborate as partners.”

An API system is an electronic system through which biographic data from a traveller’s passport and flight details are collected by airlines and transmitted to the relevant entities, such as border control agencies, before departure or arrival.

The collection and processing of API data by government structures has grown in importance since the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2178 (2014), which calls for the establishment of individual API systems. This obligation has been further reinforced with the adoption of UNSC Resolution 2396 (2017) and Amendment 26 to the Chicago Convention, making an API system mandatory.

This training course was the eighth activity of a multi-year OSCE initiative aimed at strengthening co-operation mechanisms between border security and management agencies of the OSCE participating States and the Mediterranean Partners for Co-operation.