The latest update on international tourism mandates aircraft operators to share all international travel-related information with the Indian government.
As per the new Passenger Name Record Information Regulations 2022, it has been made mandatory for all international airlines to share details of international passengers with the customs department. The details have to be registered 24 hours before flight departure time.
As per media reports, the information required will include the following: PNR number; issue and date of ticket; seat number of the flight; payment details (credit card number); locator code; information on upgrades, free tickets, and travel itinerary for specific PNR; information on travel agency/travel agent; history of PNR changes; information on passport number, date of birth, and gender; or any other information collected by the airline within its PNR and others
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According to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), all airlines are required to submit information in a particular format to the National Customs Targeting Centre-Passenger (NCTC-P). Based on this data, the CBIC database will conduct a risk analysis of the passengers. Then, the CBIC will pass the data to other law-enforcement agencies, the government department of India and other countries. The data will be stored for the next five years.
The CBIC has said that the data can be re-personalised and unmasked if any connection is drawn between an identifiable case, threat or risk, or any other purpose.
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In order to maintain privacy and prevent misuse of the information, an extensive independent system audit and security audit will be carried out on an annual basis.
