Facilitation
Developments pertaining to Annex 9 — Facilitation and related guidance
On 24 May 2019, the Council adopted Amendment 27 to Annex 9 —
Facilitation and prescribed 21 October 2019 as the effective date and 21 February 2020 as the applicability date of the Annex amendment
(C-DEC 217/3).
Amendment 27 to Annex 9 incorporates new/revised provisions related, inter alia, to crew identity cards, unaccompanied minors, Passenger Data Single Window and trafficking in persons.
On 23 January 2019, the Air Transport Committee (ATC) agreed that a Facilitation Panel Working Group be established to consider proposals for Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs) on the collection, use, processing and protection of Passenger Name Records (PNR) data in line with United Nations Security Council resolution 2396 (2017).
Subsequently, the PNR Task Force (PNR-TF) was established and undertook its work, including two face-to-face meetings (18 to 20 August 2019 in Cairo and 3 to 6 December 2019 at ICAO Headquarters) to develop the proposal of SARPs on PNR.
The PNR-TF report including proposal of SARPs on PNR was scheduled to be presented to the Eleventh Meeting of Facilitation Panel (FALP/11), (13 to 16 January 2020). The recommendations of FALP were scheduled to be presented to ATC during its 219th Session in February 2020.
ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) Strategy
The focus of the Fifteenth Symposium and Exhibition on TRIP/MRTDs, held in Montréal in June 2019, was to highlight how to “Bridge the Physical-Digital Document Divide” by incorporating technology with the interdependent elements of the ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) Strategy and maximize the benefits of using digital representation to mitigate challenges for future travellers. The Symposium was attended by over 600 participants representing 94 States, 12 international organizations and 39 industry partners. This event has offered a global forum for the exchange of information, and the sharing of best practices on all aspects of traveller identification management, and has given valuable insights on current and emerging issues.
An ICAO TRIP Regional Seminar was conducted in Cotonou, Benin, in February 2019. The Seminar, hosted by the Government of Benin, addressed the five elements of the ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (ICAO TRIP) Strategy, including: Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD) standards; specifications and best practices; secure travel document issuance; robust evidence of identity processes; and information sharing technologies highly relevant to the execution of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2178 (2014), 2309 (2016), 2368 and 2396 (2017) on combatting foreign terrorist fighters, with a special focus on effective border control management.
With the cooperation of the civil aviation authorities of Namibia (under the auspices of the AFI SEC/FAL Plan) and Tunisia (funded by NCLB funds donated by Qatar), two workshops were organized by ICAO TRIP to assist States within the Eastern and Southern African Region and the greater Maghreb region to enhance the understanding of traveller identification and identity management processes, as well as passenger data exchange systems and potential solutions. ICAO Implementation and Capacity-Building Working Group (ICBWG) experts provided additional insights for the benefit of workshop participants.
In 2019, ICAO also became a core partner of the United Nations Countering Terrorist Travel Programme (UNCTTP), a new flagship initiative of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT). It was launched on 7 May by the UN Secretary-General, with the participation of the Secretary General of ICAO.
With the support of other UN offices, the UNCTTP intends to assist Member States to meet their obligations towards the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions mentioned previously by enhancing their detection capacity against foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and serious criminals through the collection, identification, and analysis of their travel information, including Advance Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR).
ICAO also works closely with many leading organizations that have a key role to play in this field. In this regard, ICAO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in November 2019.
ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD)
The ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) was 100% available throughout the year, with performance entirely in line with the service level agreements delineated with participants. A full audit of operations was completed in July 2019, returning no significant adverse findings.
Eight new participants joined the PKD during the course of the year, bringing the total number of participants to 71. Usage of the service also increased – fifteen of the root (anchor) certificates that are the foundation of Member States’ digital signatures in electronic travel documents were added to the system within certificate import ceremonies.
Such increased membership and usage was associated with the extensive ICAO TRIP outreach efforts that were undertaken. The PKD was also presented at the African Union Mechanism for Police Cooperation (AFRIPOL)’s Third General Assembly in October 2019.
Four of the new participants in 2019 were Balkan countries that had been supported in their efforts to join by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). ICAO joined two OSCE country visits in 2019 – to Croatia and Montenegro – highlighting the closeness of the cooperation.
The PKD Board, the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations (UN) and ICAO have been working together in order to develop and implement an ICAO Certificate Master List to support the dissemination of the certificates required for electronic passport authentication, while also facilitating passport authentication by the wider aviation and travel community. A formal cooperation agreement between ICAO and the United Nations – whose digital certificate will be used for signature of the master list – was signed by the ICAO Secretary General and the UN Under Secretary for Operational Support in December 2019.
