Agents, review your clients’ contracts

TRAVEL agents are advised
to review their contracts
with clients following
a new directive by the EU
regulating the Passenger
Name Record (PNR) data for
the prevention of terrorism.
Under the directive, which
was passed on April 14,
agents and airlines are
now obliged to provide
EU countries with the
personal information of their
customers. This could be a
sticking point for agents who
will have to comply with South
Africa’s Protection of Personal
Information (POPI) Act, which
comes into effect mid-2016.
In terms of the Act,
Advocate Louis Nel says travel
agents will need to ensure
they communicate in their
contracts with clients that
their personal information will
be shared, with which parties,
for how long the information
will be made available (five
years) and that “adequate
privacy precautions” will be
in place with the parties that
have access to their clients’
information.
“The travel agent would
not only have to obtain the
consent of the traveller
to share their personal
information in the initial
consultation but also for
further processing by the
other parties,” says Louis.
He adds that travel agents
will need to advise their
clients why parties would
have access to their personal
information.
In terms of the EU’s new
directive, travel agents will
have to advise their clients
on the role the EU member
states would play in the
exchange of their personal
information. Under the EU’s
directive, member states will
have to set up Passenger
Information Units (PIUs)
that will be responsible
for collecting, storing and
processing PNR data. This
would include transferring the
data to the authorities and
exchanging it with the PIUs
of other member states and
with Europol.