Cablegate: Portugal Airline Against Biodata Collection Burden

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DE RUEHLI #1674 1961500
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141500Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY LISBON
TO RHEFHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6928
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS LISBON 001674

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FOR:US-VISIT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAIR PGOV PREL PO
SUBJECT: PORTUGAL AIRLINE AGAINST BIODATA COLLECTION BURDEN

1. Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) conveyed to
Consul General and PolEconOff the strong concern of the
Portuguese flag air carrier TAP about proposed regulations
for biometric data collection by airlines under the US-VISIT
program. In the July 11 meeting Deputy Director General for
Technical and Economic Issues Ricardo Pracana told us TAP is
incapable of supporting the costs of this proposed
initiative. Pracana claimed the carrier had posted a 100
million euro loss in the first six months of 2008 and is
struggling with recent fuel price increases.

2. Comment: Though the invitation for a demarche was
unusual, this message appears simply to be the GOP and TAP
contribution to the airline industry response to the proposed
regulations published in the Federal Register (Reference
Docket number DHS-2008-0039), which were closed to comment on
June 23. Pracana did not want to speculate as to whether
the new regulations, if enacted, would cause TAP to withdraw
from the U.S. market entirely but it was clear that both the
GOP and TAP are very concerned about the potential extra
financial burden the regs would impose at a time of greatly
increasing fuel costs.
STEPHENSON

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