Airlines to give International Traveller Data to Customs

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Airlines will have to mandatorily provide details of all international passengers to the Customs department for preventing and prosecuting offences under the Customs Act, 1962 as well as any other domestic or international law.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) issued a gazette notification titled ‘Passenger Name Record Information Regulations, 2022’.

• The information such as passenger name record (PNR), date of travel, credit card details and seat assigned will have to be shared at least 24 hours before departure.
• Failure to comply will invite a minimum penalty of ₹25,000 and maximum of ₹50,000 for every act of non-compliance.
• This information will have to be shared with CBIC established agency, National Customs Targeting Centre – Passenger (NCTC-P) for conducting of “risk analysis of passengers”.
• The airline will have to share include PNR (Passenger Name Record) locator code, date of reservation, date of intended travel, frequent flyer and information on other benefits such as free tickets and upgrades, all available contact information, billing information including credit card number, travel agency or agent, seat information as well as history of changes to the PNR.

Purpose

• Such information is needed for prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of offences under the Customs Act and also for the law enforcement agencies or government departments or any other country.
• It will also help to prevent bank loan defaulters from fleeing the country to avoid prosecution.
• According to information furnished by the government in Parliament, a total of 38 economic offenders, including Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya and Mehul Choksi, fled the country in the last five years.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC)

• The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is the nodal national agency responsible for administering Customs, GST, Central Excise, Service Tax & Narcotics in India.
• The Customs & Central Excise department was established in the year 1855 by the then British Governor General of India, to administer customs laws in India and collection of import duties / land revenue. It is one of the oldest government departments of India.
• Currently the Customs and Central Excise / GST department comes under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.

Functions performed by the CBIC include:

• Formulation of policy concerning levy and collection of Customs, Central Excise duties, Central Goods & Services Tax and IGST,
• Prevention of smuggling.
• Administration of matters relating to Customs, Central Excise, Central Goods & Services Tax, IGST and Narcotics to the extent under CBIC’s purview.