Victor Osorio/Reform Agency
Saturday, February 04, 2023 | 11:57
Mexico City- The United States Government plans to strengthen the verification of passenger data for each flight to and from that country.
The Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP, for its acronym in English) reported this Thursday in a statement that it published a Notice of Proposed Regulation (NPRM) to require commercial airlines to join the Document Validation Program ( DocVal) of passengers, a measure that was previously voluntary.
CBP reported that it has already published a Notice of Proposed Regulation (NPRM) for them to be subject to the program.
Through the program, CBP explained, the passenger manifest data sent by the airline will be automatically verified to ensure that it is accurate.
It will also be checked that the travel document of each passenger is valid, before responding to the carrier for the processing of the boarding pass.
The measure, CBP said, will strengthen the security of international air travel by expanding advanced data requirements for travelers on commercial flights to and from the US.
“This proposal will allow CBP to identify threats in the process, preventing travelers with invalid documents from receiving a boarding pass. This will improve security for the traveling public and expedite international travel,” he said.
He explained that the DocVal program currently operates on a voluntary basis and maintained that it has contributed to the efficiency of airlines by validating traveler documents during the check-in process.
“Airlines began providing passenger phone number and email account information to CBP through APIS on a voluntary basis in December 2020. There are now 80 airlines participating in the program and more than 200,000 travelers per day. “, he detailed.
The Notice explains that CBP currently uses APIS to match passenger information submitted by airlines against various law enforcement databases and the terrorist watch list.
“To further improve vetting processes regarding APIS data and improve communication with airlines, CBP is proposing to amend their regulations to require that they ensure that their systems are capable of accepting air carrier validation instructions.” documents from the CBP system,” he says.
