Jump to content

Start-up phase

This page explains the start-up phase of our e-Borders programme and the activities that will take place during this period.

The start-up phase includes the initial stages for implementing the e-Borders programme and has a number of activities associated with it. These include:

  • communicating with carriers;
  • registration of carriers; and
  • interface selection.

Communicating with carriers

We will send an initial engagement letter to the carrier to tell them about the requirements of the e-Borders programme. The letter introduces the programme and informs carriers of the requirements that they must meet.

You should return the form we have enclosed with the letter and nominate a person within your organisation to be your carrier representative for the programme. We will then organise a meeting with the carrier representative to start the formal communication process.

We would prefer the carrier representative to be based in the United Kingdom. If this is not possible, the carrier representative must be able to communicate with Trusted Borders, our commercial partner for e-Borders, whose staff are based in the United Kingdom.

The responsibilities of the carrier representative include:

  • helping the carrier to deliver the e-Borders requirements;
  • working with us to understand the required changes;
  • communicating with the carrier's own internal and subsidiary stakeholders; and
  • checking progress and telling us and the carrier's own management about any problems.

You should also appoint a carrier technical representative to liaise with us over technical aspects of the programme. This person will have enough expertise to be able to give technical support to the carrier representative. The carrier technical representative will be extensively involved in:

  • interface selection;
  • interface development;
  • standalone testing;
  • certification; and
  • transition to live service.

If a carrier representative will not always be available as our main contact for dealing with you, you may have a local United Kingdom representative who acts on behalf of the carrier representative.

Registration phase

The United Kingdom Government requires an organisation or individual to register before it can access government systems, in this case the e-Borders system. This removes the possibility of unauthorised access to government systems. The first step in the registration process is for you to complete the registration form and return it to your stakeholder relationship manager. We will tell you what you need to do next.

Interface selection phase

To provide the required information, most carriers will need to build an interface that will allow their systems to connect with the e-Borders system and transmit information to it. There are different interface options to reflect the different levels of IT maturity and capability of different carriers.

Carriers will be obliged by law to provide certain information to e-Borders, and they will use one or more of these interface options to deliver the information to e-Borders. So that they can choose and build their interfaces, carriers will be given interface control documents (ICDs) which describe each interface.

The e-Borders overview for technology suppliers (PDF 220K opens in new window) provides technical details of the data carriers will be required to provide and describes:

  • what data must be provided;
  • when data must be provided; and
  • briefly, the interfaces that will be available.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • We are already providing data to Semaphore and thought we had done all the development we needed to. How would our interface for e-Borders differ from the one we built for Semaphore?

    Semaphore was an operational prototype that required only one transmission of data with flexible timing. We have always said that e-Borders would require travel document information data pre-departure as well as data confirming departure. In both cases, the timings for submitting the data are set by us.

    We recognise carriers' concerns that e-Borders technology might not be compatible with Semaphore but we were required to run a fair procurement process for the e-Borders contract and it therefore needed to be open to all possible solutions. We have shared the lessons learned from Semaphore with the service provider to help it develop a solution that can accommodate issues raised by carriers, as far as possible, and build on Semaphore's success. The service provider is required to ensure that the proposed solution is as straightforward as possible for carriers.  

  • How does the US version of PAXLIST compare with the e-Borders version?

    The 2007 APIS+ version, supporting AQQ, cannot be supported by e-Borders. Its structure is based on passenger itineraries and ours is based on voyages.

    The 2005 APIS version produces a PAXLIST message which contains all the Advanced Passenger Information (API) required by e-Borders and in a format which, with minor adaptation at one end or the other, is compatible with our reporting requirements.

    e-Borders is based on the concept of two transmissions of data, the first containing check-in data, the second containing data confirming departure.  The carrier is responsible for ensuring the content of the message accurately reflects the header information.

Terms explained

  • Carrier representative

    The person appointed by a carrier as its main contact with our e-Borders programme.

  • Carrier technical representative

    This person appointed by a carrier as its main technical contact with our e-Borders programme.

  • Certification

    The process a carrier's interface must undergo after testing, to ensure it is ready to go into service and connect with our e-Borders system.

  • Interface

    An interface is a standard and secure way to transfer information from carrier systems to our e-Borders systems.  Each interface will have its own method of transport and encryption.

  • Interface control documents

    These define the options for interfaces compatible with our e-Borders systems that carriers can use to provide us with the information we require.

All glossary terms

Related documents