e-Borders update

The incoming Conservative /Lib Dem Coalition has given a commitment to the e-Borders programme. Just before the general election the Home Affairs Select Committee issued its follow up report on the e-Borders programme which puts into the public domain the exchange of correspondence between the Government and the European Commission.

The Commission has made it clear that:-

• passengers who are EU citizens or their family members will not be refused entiy/exit or incur sanctions on the sole grounds that their passenger data are unavailable to the UK authorities for whatever reason;
• carriers will be instructed by the UK authorities not to deny boarding to EU citizens and their family members who do not communicate API data to the operator, and that the provision of API data to operators is neither compulsory nor a condition of purchase and sale of the ticket;
• carriers will not incur sanctions if they are unable to transmit data through no fault on their part;
• the UK authorities will make available to persons travelling to/from the UK the information required by Article 10 of Directive 95/46/EC and will assist the carriers to communicate this information to travellers;
• a single contact point will be established by the UK authorities to allow data subjects to exercise their data protection rights; and
• appropriate safeguards will be applied to transfers of data to third countries, in line with the requirements of the UK data protection authority.

The UKBA continues to insist that e-borders complies with EU freedom of movement requirements, and that it is merely an API (advanced passenger information) scheme as opposed to a scheme giving authority to carry (ATC) which would be highly problematic under EU law.

There is still no news how the e-borders team envisages the scheme applying to recreational yachts, in particular now that it appears to recognise that for citizens of EU Member States travelling within the EU the provision of API data is purely voluntary.