Strategic Objective — Security and Facilitation — ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP)

ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP)

In 2014 a number of significant activities were conducted under the ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) Strategy. Implementation of the strategy started with Phase I in the African Region through assistance projects developed in close cooperation with regional organizations such as: Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD); Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA); Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS); and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Efforts to link the needs of States with ICAO expertise and the donor community proved successful through Canada’s support of the “Strengthening Travel Document Security in the Sahel” initiative, which focuses on building capacity in the Region through workshops, training and technical assessment missions. Meanwhile, ICAO continues to address capacity-building needs in other regions in Africa, and in Central Asia and the Americas, through project proposals and assistance activities.

Two Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTD) Regional Seminars were held, one in Uzbekistan in April and the other in Spain in June. Both events promoted best practices for managing secure passport issuance and border control systems while emphasizing the importance of issuing ICAO-compliant MRTDs and participating in the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD). They also underscored the importance of complying with Standard 3.10.1 of ICAO Annex 9 — Facilitation by the 24 November 2015 deadline. During the Regional Seminar in Spain, ICAO, in close coordination with the European Commission, organized interoperability tests for the Supplementary Access Control (SAC) digital protocol, which will become mandatory for all new ePassports issued in European Union Member States after December 2014. Elsewhere, ICAO has been continuing MRTD gap assessments in beneficiary States, particularly within the Central and Southern American Region, with the support of Canada.

Border integrity and border control management were the focus of the Tenth Symposium and Exhibition on MRTDs, Biometrics and Border Security held in Montréal in October, which was attended by 505 participants. The Symposium explored central components of the ICAO TRIP Strategy with particular reference to their use in combatting terrorism and trans-border crime. Additionally, the event provided the opportunity to examine, in greater detail, watch lists, passport readers and border information systems, the ICAO PKD, smart border controls, and inter-agency and cross-border information sharing.

One of the main outcomes of the 22nd Meeting of the Technical Advisory Group on Machine Readable Travel Documents (TAG/MRTD/22) held in Montréal in May was endorsement of the Seventh Edition of Doc 9303 – Machine Readable Travel Documents, which will be available in early 2015. The TAG/MRTD also agreed to recommend amendments to Annex 9 provisions related to travel documents for review by the Eighth Meeting of the Facilitation Panel (FALP/8). The meeting considered a wide range of other issues relating to the implementation of the ICAO TRIP Strategy, including the Group’s revised terms of reference, development of a work programme and a new TRIP web portal. With a view to advancing its work, TAG/MRTD/22 approved future work programmes of its two sub-groups: the New Technologies Working Group and the Implementation and Capacity-Building Working Group.

http://www.icao.int/Meetings/mrtd-tashkent-2014/

http://www.icao.int/Meetings/mrtd-madrid-2014/

http://www.icao.int/Meetings/mrtd-symposium-2014/

http://www.icao.int/Meetings/TAG-MRTD/Pages/TAG-MRTD-22.aspx

http://www.icao.int/Meetings/FALP/Pages/FALP8-2014.aspx

http://www.icao.int/Meetings/NTWG2014/

ICAO continued to promote PKD membership through a series of workshops and regional seminars, urging States to join due to the importance of enhancing cross-border security and air transport facilitation. Six new participants – Brazil, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Philippines, Qatar, Seychelles and Uzbekistan joined the ICAO PKD during the course of the year, bringing the total number to 45 participants.

http://www.icao.int/Security/mrtd/Pages/icaoPKD.aspx