Executive Summary
Primary Inspection Kiosk Privacy Impact Assessment

The CBSA's next generation Primary Inspection Kiosk (PIK) was one of the recommendations put forth by a dedicated Air Traveller Task Force, established in late 2013 with a mandate to develop a strategy to support projected future changes in Canada Border Services Agency's (CBSA) air mode operational environment. Smart border management includes modern services that leverage technology to assist in reducing wait times and congestion at Canada's busiest airports.  

PIK will replace the Automated Border Clearance (ABC) kiosks, currently in operation at the international airports of Vancouver, Montreal Pierre-Elliott Trudeau, Toronto Lester B. Pearson, and Calgary.

PIK represents the next evolution in automating Canada's international air ports of entry in partnership with airport authorities. The PIK initiative will introduce increased functionality in support of both facilitation and security, including complete on-screen traveller declaration and the elimination of the paper E311 declaration card, use of facial matching software to compare the photo of the traveller from their passport with the current photo taken at the kiosk, and validation of ePassports for authenticity using the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards. In addition, the PIK initiative will expand the population eligible to use the self-serve kiosks to visa-exempt and visa-required foreign nationals. 

Upon arrival in Canada, travellers will be directed to PIK, where they follow the on-screen instructions to complete their primary processing session including scanning their passport, presenting for a photo (facial image capture) and answering a series of required customs and immigration question. When all system queries have been completed and the traveller's on-screen declaration has been finalized and submitted, PIK will print a receipt for the traveller(s) for use by CBSA personnel throughout the CBSA Hall. All PIK receipts will be collected by CBSA officers before travellers exit the secure area.

PIK will also provide an expedited functionality for travellers to complete their on-screen declaration by using the CanBorder-eDeclaration app. The app users will be prompted, at the beginning of the kiosk session, to scan their eDeclaration QR code which will pre-populate the kiosk screens, reduce typing and expedite processing at the kiosk. Clarifying questions will be presented on-screen as required, and the traveller will be presented with an editable declaration summary.

All travellers will continue to see a CBSA officer and some travellers, as occurs today, will be referred for additional questioning or inspection.  

Deployment of PIK will be phased in at Canadian airports starting March 2017. The airports scheduled for priority deployment of PIK include Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Halifax, Winnipeg, Calgary, Billy Bishop and Quebec City airports.

Protecting Your Personal Information

The following personal information elements related to the traveller will be managed by PIK:

While the kiosk and mobile app are new tools, the CBSA's collection of information from travellers arriving by air remains largely unchanged with the exception of the facial photo captured at the kiosk. In fact, by moving to an electronic declaration, the CBSA will be reducing the number of data elements captured to the minimum required for traveller processing, and will increase the integrity of data collection and the security of data transmission. 

No personal information will be stored on the kiosk itself. All information collected will be encrypted and transferred securely over dedicated lines to CBSA information holdings and purged from the kiosk upon termination of each traveller session. The declaration data and a copy of the receipt will be retained within CBSA systems, in accordance with government information, privacy and security policies. 

The mobile app operates without any connection to CBSA systems (i.e., in airplane mode) and retains only basic, non-protected, traveller information, used to pre-populate a portion of the kiosk data entry. Declarations on the app are deleted after 24 hours, and may be manually deleted at any time.

The kiosk and app are tools that will collect information directly from the traveller and verify it against information that is already held within CBSA information holdings. The information (a defined list of data elemnts, excluding the photo) will be disclosed to Statistics Canada for statistical analysis purposes. As per the CBSA's existing practices, in the event it is required for enforcement, program integrity or to address health and safety concerns, information may be requested on a case-by-case basis by law enforcement partners, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) respectively.

Right of Access

Individuals are informed of the authority for collection, purpose, uses and disclosure of their personal information in a Privacy Notice Statement on PIK and on the eDeclaration Mobile App for those using the app.

Individuals may formally request access to their personal information, or access to corporate records related to the PIK by filing a request with the Access to Information and Privacy Division. More information about this can be found on the Access to Information and Privacy page.

Accountability

Individuals with concerns about the collection, use, disclosure or retention of their personal information may issue a complaint to the CBSA Access to Information and Privacy Division. Complaints should be made in writing, and include the individuals name, contact information, and a brief description of their concerns. Contact the Access to Information and Privacy Division at the CBSA

Date modified: