Regional Customs
  • Hakodate
  • Tokyo
  • Yokohama
  • Nagoya
  • Osaka
  • Kobe
  • Moji
  • Nagasaki
  • Okinawa
Location:
Home > Summary of Passenger Name Record (PNR)

Summary of Passenger Name Record (PNR)

1. About PNR

 PNR (Passenger Name Record) is reservation information about passengers which airlines have. PNR contains 35 elements such as the name, the nationality, the date of birth, the date of reservation and travel schedule.

 

2. Purpose of use

 According to the Article 15 and 17 of the Customs Law, airlines are required to transmit PNR data to Japan Customs and Japan Customs utilize it for customs enforcement purpose including preventing the smuggling of terrorism related goods and illicit drugs.

 

3. Background

 In March 2011, Japan Customs amended the Customs Law including constructing the reporting scheme on inbound PNR, and Japan Customs could request airlines to report inbound PNR from October 2011. From April 2015, airlines could report inbound PNR of all passengers electronically through NACCS (Nippon Automated Cargo and Port Consolidated System) to Japan Customs.

In March 2017, Japan Customs amended the Customs Law including constructing the reporting scheme on outbound PNR, and Japan Customs could request airlines to report outbound PNR from June 2017. Also on and after 17th March 2019, in principle, electronic reporting of inbound and outbound PNR through NACCS became mandatory.

 

4. Methods of PNR data transmission

 Regarding inbound and outbound PNR, airlines report it through NACCS or the like to Japan Customs twice, 72 hours before scheduled time of departure and immediately after the departure from foreign airports (inbound) or airports in Japan (outbound).

 

5. Limitation of PNR data access within Japan Customs

 In Japan Customs, limited officials in the centralized unit solely utilize PNR data for analyzing and targeting of passengers. To limit the access to PNR data, the data is used in the closed system and the access to the facility in which the unit is situated and the office of the unit is strictly limited.

 

6. Utilization and storage of PNR data

 In accordance with the Act on the Protection of Personal information Held by Administrative Organs and Public Records and Archives Management Act, Japan Customs appropriately utilize and storage PNR data. And when there is a disclosure request, we deal with this by the Act on the Protection of Personal information Held by Administrative Organs and Law Concerning Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs.

 

7. Securing of Transparency

 In the official web portal of the Government of Japan (e-Gov Japan), we provide information about PNR such as the purpose of use of PNR and the recording items.

 

8. Sharing of PNR data with other relevant domestic agencies

 In accordance with the Act on the Protection of Personal information Held by Administrative Organs, Japan Customs share PNR data with other relevant government agencies solely to the extent necessary for the customs enforcement purpose including preventing from smuggling of terrorism related goods and illicit drugs and Japan Customs determine the necessity of sharing for each case individually.

 

9. Sharing of PNR data with other foreign customs administrations

In accordance with the Article 108-2 of the Customs Law and Customs Mutual Assistance Framework, Japan Customs share PNR data with other foreign customs administrations solely to the extent necessary for the customs enforcement purpose including preventing from smuggling of terrorism and it related goods and illicit drugs and Japan Customs determine the necessity of sharing for each case individually.