From 20 to 23 April an ICAO Regional Facilitation Implementation seminar was conducted in close cooperation between ICAO Headquarters and the Regional Office.
A wide range of key issues related to Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention encompassing recent amendments 27 and 28 were discussed as well as upcoming meetings such as the Facilitation Panel and the High Level COVID-19 conference where Facilitation with its role in supporting the management of the pandemic will be a major topic.
Further emphasis was given to developments in the area of electronic machine readable travel documents, visible digital seal (VDS) and its application for testing and vaccination certificates during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the ICAO Public Key Directory and Master List and their importance for border control. Finally, chapter 9 of Annex 9, Passenger Data Exchange Systems, namely Advance Passenger Information (API), Passenger Name Record (PNR) and the importance of a Single Window concept were discussed with a specific highlight on the implementation requirements for States. Experience was shared by States who have already implemented API and/or PNR and a single window concept. Interpol, IATA and WCO provided information on their respective roles in developing API and PNR taking into account that the usefulness of API/PNR data transfer depends on the joint effort of all organizations.
The seminar was held in English and Russian languages and a total of 200 participants from 33 States and 7 international and regional organizations as well as industry attended.
To support States, the seminar material is available on the ICAO EUR/NAT official webpage here
