Study on harmonising reporting obligations of travel data on maritime transport, with a view to use such data for law enforcement purposes : final report

This feasibility study on 'Harmonising of reporting obligations of travel data on maritime transport, with the view to using such data for law enforcement purposes' contributes to the European Commission's efforts to map and potentially close the current information gaps on maritime travel information by identifying policy options on collection and access to such data and by assessing their necessity, proportionality and technical feasibility. It concludes that law enforcement authorities (LEAs) suffer from a general lack of data availability on maritime travellers, either because the national laws of their countries do not allow sufficient access to the information already sent, or due to gaps in the completeness and accuracy of such information. LEAs' access to the maritime national single window (MNSW) lacks an EU legal basis and a set of rules and safeguards to regulate data processing. The transfer of booking and reservation information (BRI) or the collection of information currently not held, such as travel document information (TDI), would be beneficial to LEAs in fighting serious and organised crimes. Finally, the study explores the possibility of requiring the collection of certain information by automated means to overcome the general problem of poor data quality on maritime travellers.