By John Quarterman
December 1st, 2008
Following several
months of delay while the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency
considered an unprecedented number of responses to its proposed new rule, the
final rule has been released.
All private
aircraft will be required to fill in a detailed online form that will provide
the CBP with information on the aircraft, the exact trip and crossing point
into or from the
The CBP will
consider the information and issue either an acknowledgement with permission to
travel or a denial of permission, which would most likely result from a person
onboard being matched to the
The new rule
essentially mandates the filing of a report via the electronic
Advance Passenger Information System (eAPIS). This
web-based system is an extension of the existing system through which airline passengers
are currently vetted.
COPA, working with
other aviation organizations including AOPA, took part in the major effort to modify
the onerous provisions in the draft rule. Many of our suggested changes were
also suggested by others, but COPA was instrumental in obtaining one important
change.
According to the
CBP in its response to comments, only one commenter asked for the elimination
of the CBP178 form that is currently used for reporting most of the same
information in the eAPIS report. COPA asked
specifically for the CBP to avoid this duplication of effort. The CBP responded
as follows in the final rule:
Comment: One commenter stated that CBP should no
longer require CBP Form 178 (Private Aircraft Enforcement System Arrival
Report) as the included information will be electronically transmitted to CBP
one hour prior to departure.
Response: CBP agrees. CBP Form 178 was created as
an internal Customs form for the use by Customs inspectors. Because the
information on the CBP Form 178 is now electronically available to CBP officers
through eAPIS, CBP will no longer require the form.
Another draft provision that was eliminated
because of COPA’s effort was a requirement to obtain a transponder code prior
to completing the eAPIS report. We brought this to Nav
Comment: Several commenter’s
stated that submitting the transponder/beacon code and/or decal number in eAPIS was not possible because it was not available 60 minutes
prior to takeoff. One commenter was concerned about supplying the CBP decal number
as the decal may be purchased upon arrival in the
Response: CBP agrees and is amending 19
Two complaints
that COPA added to our comments to the CBP, and also asked the Canadian
Government‘s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) to
address, have also been satisfied.
The first
extremely important issue is the overflight of the
The second issue
involved the timing of the filing of the manifests. The CBP has responded by
allowing both manifests for an outgoing and return trip to be filed from home
before the trip. There is no limit to how far in advance the manifests may be
filed and most importantly, the timing may be adjusted with a telephone call to
the CBP just before the trip, so that the exact timing need not be known in
advance.
The response of
the CBP to COPA’s comments is heartening and again outlines the importance of a
vigorous aviation association with the resources to monitor and respond to such
developments.
Government
agencies, while well-meaning for the most part, have little expertise in our
sector and often require guidance on the impact of their proposed rules. The
successful outcome of our large effort to affect the rulemaking process to
produce a positive result is proof of the necessity of COPA to provide advocacy
for this sector of aviation.
The schedule for
implementation of the final rule is
The final rule points out that pilots who
fail to comply with the terms of the rule are subject to a civil penalty of
$5,000 for the first violation and $10,000 for each subsequent violation and may
also be subject to criminal penalties for violations under 19 U.S.C. 1436(c).
In addition, the CBP response to comments
makes the following statement: “the
The CBP had this to say about the effort
and time required to enter data:
“Based on the current information collected
and accounting for proposed changes in the data elements, CBP estimates that
one submission, which includes the arrival information and the passenger
manifest data, will require 15 minutes of time for the pilot to complete.
Additionally, CBP estimates that it will require each of the 460,000 passengers
one minute to provide the required data to the pilot. These data are all
contained on a passenger’s passport or alien registration card and are thus
simple to provide to the pilot.”
The final rule lists the following required
data:
For each individual onboard the aircraft:
Full name, date of birth, gender, citizenship,
country of residence, status on board the aircraft, DHS-approved travel
document type (e.g. passport; alien registration card,
etc.), document number, country of issuance,
expiration date, alien registration number (where applicable) and address while
in the
For the aircraft and the pilot:
Tail number, type of aircraft, call sign
(if available), CBP-issued decal number (if available), place of last departure
(for arriving aircraft), date of arrival or departure, estimated time of
arrival or departure, estimated time and location of crossing U.S.
border/coastline, name of intended U.S. airport of first landing for arrivals
(or intended foreign airport of first landing for departures), Owner/Lessees
name (if individual: last, first, and, if available, middle; or business entity
name, if applicable), Owner/Lessees address, telephone number, fax number, and
email address, pilot name license number, address, telephone number, fax
number, and email address, country of issuance of pilot’s license, operator
name or business entity (if applicable) name address,
telephone number, fax number, and email
address, aircraft color(s), 24-hour Emergency point of contact (e.g., broker,
dispatcher, repair shop, or other third party contact or individual who is
knowledgeable about this particular flight) name and phone number.
For arriving aircraft, complete Itinerary
(foreign airports landed at within past 24 hours prior to landing in
If any of the data elements change after
the manifest is transmitted, the pilot must update the manifest and resubmit
the amended manifest to CBP.
Only amendments regarding flight
cancellation, expected time of departure or changes in departure location to an
already transmitted manifest may be submitted telephonically, by radio, or
through existing processes and procedures.
If an amended manifest is submitted less
than 60 minutes prior to departure, the private aircraft pilot must receive
approval from CBP for the amended manifest containing added passenger
information and/or changes to information that were submitted regarding the
aircraft before the aircraft is allowed to depart the U.S. location, or the
aircraft may be denied clearance to depart from the United States.
The electronic
manifest rule is sure to be one which causes major impact on our
private-aircraft transportation patterns to and from the
Further
information is at
http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1226943980107.shtm
And
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/inspections_carriers_facilities/apis/private_aircraft/
And a tutorial is
at
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/inspections_carriers_facilities/apis/eapis_online_tutorial.xml
The final rule in
its entirety is at
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-26621.htm