Revised passenger reservation information privacy regime

Policy effect

Effective March 11, 2016, SOR/2016-38 replaced the linked retention, access and disclosure regime for passenger name record (PNR) information supplied to CBSA under the immigration regulations, including information about persons expected to travel. It removed advance passenger information (API) from this PNR regulation; companion SOR/2016-37 placed API retention in IRPR269, permitting retention for three years and six months from departure and, if required in an investigation, for as long as required but at most six years from departure. API reporting and carrier liability are separate measures. For PNR, the replacement permits use only for Immigration and Refugee Protection Act purposes, retention for that Act or CBSA program legislation, and disclosure for that Act, national security, defence of Canada or international affairs, always subject to the following limits. Ordinary retention runs until three years and six months after departure rather than receipt; longer retention is allowed only while needed to identify persons reasonably suspected of defined terrorism offences or serious transnational crimes, and at most six years after departure. The former mandatory PAXIS storage/separation and enforcement-copy structure is removed. Access requires the official’s functions to require it and is limited to identifying persons who have or may have committed the defined offences, or related trend analysis/risk indicators. From 72 hours after departure through two years, access to a person’s name requires confirmation that it is necessary for the identification purpose; after two years through three-and-a-half years, access to identifying information requires CBSA President authorization to identify a person reasonably suspected of those offences. During extended retention after three-and-a-half years, access is only for the identification purpose. President-authorized access must be logged with the requesting official, reasons, subject, and request, authorization and access dates; logs are retained at least two years. If the Access to Information Act or Privacy Act requires longer retention, access during that extension is only for the purpose requiring retention. Domestic disclosure to a federal or provincial department or authority must be necessary and case by case, with reasonable grounds of relevance to preventing, investigating or prosecuting the defined offences, directly related recipient functions, equivalent protection, an undertaking not to redisclose without CBSA permission unless legally required, and only necessary information disclosed. Foreign disclosure is separately permitted case by case under an international agreement or arrangement, when necessary for the listed statutory/security/defence/international-affairs purposes, with reasonable grounds of relevance to preventing, investigating or prosecuting the defined offences, directly related recipient functions, an undertaking of equivalent regulatory or EU-negotiated PNR protection, and only necessary information disclosed. It replaces the prior separate EU/adequacy-covered PAXIS route and direct-evidence, on-request enforcement-database route. Compliance with a Canadian subpoena, warrant or compulsory disclosure order is expressly preserved. Disclosures under these domestic, foreign and compulsory routes must be logged with recipient/authority, reasons, subject and date for at least two years. The predecessor already had staged name/identifier access controls, President approval, a three-and-a-half-year normal limit and a six-year enforcement-copy limit; this measure changes their scope, triggers, clocks and structure rather than introducing all safeguards for the first time. All amendments in SOR/2016-38 commenced on registration; the deferred PNR collection amendments in SOR/2016-35 and37 are not part of this measure.

Conditions and exceptions

Validated condition or limit: companion SOR/2016-37 placed API retention in IRPR269, permitting retention for three years and six months from departure and, if required in an investigation, for as long as required but at most six years from departure.; For PNR, the replacement permits use only for Immigration and Refugee Protection Act purposes, retention for that Act or CBSA program legislation, and disclosure for that Act, national security, defence of Canada or international affairs, always subject to the following limits.; Ordinary retention runs until three years and six months after departure rather than receipt; longer retention is allowed only while needed to identify persons reasonably suspected of defined terrorism offences or serious transnational crimes, and at most six years after departure.; Access requires the official’s functions to require it and is limited to identifying persons who have or may…

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

Canada Gazette – Regulations Amending the Protection of Passenger Information Regulations Skip to main content Skip to "About this site" Language selection Français fr / Gouvernement du Canada Search Search Canada Gazette gazette.gc.ca canada.ca Search Menu Main Menu Jobs and the workplace Immigration and citizenship Travel and tourism Business and industry Benefits Health Taxes Environment and natural resources National security and defence Culture, history and sport Policing, justice and emergencies Transport and infrastructure Canada and the world Money and finances Science and innovation Topics menu Canada.ca Canada Gazette Publications Part II: Vol. 150 (2016) March 23, 2016 Vol. 150, No. 6 — March 23, 2016 Registration SOR/2016-38 March 11, 2016 IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION ACT Regulations Amending the Protection of Passenger Information Regulations P.C. 2016-121 March 11, 2016 Whereas, pursuant to subsection 5(2) (see footnote a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (see footnote b), the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness has caused a copy of the proposed Regulations Amending the Protection of Passenger Information Regulations to be laid before each House of Parliament, substantially in the annexed form; Therefore, His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, pursuant to subsection 5(1) and section 150.1 (see footnote c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (see footnote d), makes the annexed Regulations Amending the Protection of Passenger Information Regulations. Regulations Amending the Protection of Passenger Information Regulations Amendments 1 (1) The definitions advance passenger information, enforcement database, intelligence official and PAXIS system in section 1 of the Protection of Passenger Information Regulations (see footnote 1) are repealed. (2) The definition passenger name record information in section 1 of the Regulations is replaced by the following: passenger name record information means the information that is referred to in paragraph 269(1)(e) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations and is provided to the Agency. (renseignements sur le dossier passager) (3) Section 1 of the Regulations is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order: commercial vehicle has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations. (véhicule commercial) day of departure means (a) in the case of a commercial vehicle that carries persons or goods by air, the day of take-off from the last point of embarkation of persons before the vehicle arrives in Canada; and (b) in the case of a commercial vehicle that carries persons or goods by water or land, the day of departure from the last point of embarkation of persons before the vehicle arrives in Canada. (jour du départ) serious transnational crime means an act or omission that constitutes an offence punishable … by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least four years and that is committed (a) in more than one country; (b) in only one country but a substantial part of its preparation, planning, direction or control takes place in another country; (c) in only one country but an organized criminal group that engages in criminal activities in more than one country is implicated in the act or omission; (d) in only one country but has substantial effects in another country; or (e) in a country other than Canada but the offender intends to travel to or transit through Canada. (crime transnational grave) terrorism offence means (a) an act or omission that is committed for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause with the intention of intimidating the public with regard to its security, including its economic security, or with the intention of compelling a person, government or domestic or international organization to do or refrain from doing any act, and that is committed with the intention to (i) cause death or serious bodily harm, (ii) endanger a person’s life, (iii) cause a serious risk to the health or safety of the public, (iv) cause substantial property damage that is likely to result in the harm referred to in any of subparagraphs (i) to (iii), or (v) cause serious interference with or serious disruption of an essential service, facility or system other than as a result of lawful or unlawful advocacy, protest, dissent or stoppage of work, such as a strike, that is not intended to result in the harm referred to in any of subparagraphs (i) to (iii); (b) an act or omission referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition terrorist activity in subsection 83.01(1) of the Criminal Code; (c) knowingly participating in or contributing to an activity for the purpose of enhancing a terrorist group’s ability to facilitate or commit an act or omission referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) or instructing a person, group or organization to carry out an activity for that purpose; (d) an indictable offence if the act or omission that constitutes the offence is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group; (e) any of the following, if they are carried out for the purpose of committing an act or omission referred to in paragraph (a) or (b): (i) collecting, using or possessing property, (ii) providing or making available property or a financial or related service, or (iii) inviting a person, group or organization to provide property or a financial or related service; (f) attempting or threatening to commit an act or omission referred to in paragraph (a) or (b); (g) conspiring to commit, or facilitating, instructing or counselling the commission of, an act or omission referred to in paragraph (a) or (b); (h) being an accessory after the fact to an act or omission referred to in paragraph (a) or (b); or (i) harbouring or concealing for the purpose of enabling a terrorist group to facilitate or commit …

Review method

Source-based draft with independent Gemini 3.8 Flash verification

Other Canada changes operative in 2016

• 2016-02-27Parents and grandparents sponsorship cap doubled for the 2016 intake year
• 2016-03-11Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (SOR/2016-37)
• 2016-03-15Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations
• 2016-04-01Canada restores equal basic, supplemental and prescription coverage under the Interim Federal Health Program
• 2016-05-07Employer-sanction grounds for work permit revocation updated
• 2016-11-19Ministerial Instructions Amending the Ministerial Instructions Respecting the Express Entry System, 2016-1
• 2016-11-19Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (Skilled Worker) (SOR/2016-298)
• 2016-12-01Temporary Resident Visa Exemption for Citizens of Mexico (SOR/2016-293)
• 2016-12-15Ministerial Instructions on Spousal and Dependent Child Sponsorship Application Intake Simplification
• 2016-12-16Regulations Amending the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (SOR/2016-316)