NEW DELHI: A day after notifying the rules for collecting information related to international passengers, the government has assured that there would be adequate safeguards to ensure strict information privacy and data protection.
The finance ministry in a statement on Wednesday tried to allay the data protection concerns raised due to the latest diktat. It said processing of the information to reveal ethnicity, race, religious or philosophical beliefs, health etc is strictly prohibited. “The information received is used for further processing only by a senior officer of the rank of principal additional director general or additional director general,” said the finance ministry.
The government has also clarified that the intention of the regulations is to enhance the detection, and investigative capabilities of Customs Authorities for combating offences related to the smuggling of narcotics, gold, arms & ammunition.
“The Regulations strike a good balance between the needs of privacy and the imperatives of security,” reiterated the finance ministry. The government on 8 August 2022 notified Passenger Name Record (PNR) Information Regulation, 2022 which requires aircraft operators to share with the customs department information on all international passengers.
It clarified that passengers are neither required to individually submit any information to Customs nor do they need to furnish any additional information to the Airlines on account of these regulations.
It said that airlines are already collecting this information under the aegis of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, adding the objective of these regulations is to obtain this data in advance of departure or arrival of the passengers for analytics by the Customs Risk Management System.