The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reopened the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) biometrics comment period.
“As a testament to CBP’s steadfast commitment to privacy principles and transparency, CBP reopened the comment period to the biometric entry and exit proposed rule for an additional 30 days,” William A. Ferrara, executive assistant Commissioner of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said. “We welcome the public’s input to the rule as we work to further secure and enhance a touchless, seamless travel experience through facial biometrics.”
The period would be extended for an additional 30 days. The NPRM published on Nov. 19, 2020, provides the public an opportunity to provide the U.S. Government comments about the proposed amendments for non-U.S. citizens traveling to and from the United States.
The rule allows the public to provide the government comments about the proposed amendments for non-U.S. citizens traveling to and from the United States. The comment period initially closed on Dec. 21, 2020. CBP decided to re-open the comment period Feb. 10 – March 12, 2021.
The rule also proposes to amend the DHS entry/exit regulations to eliminate references to pilot programs and the port limitation to permit the collection of photographs or other biometrics from non-U.S. travelers departing from airports, land ports, seaports, or any other authorized point of departure.
Present regulations stipulate CBP may only conduct pilot programs to collect biometrics at the exit at a limited number of air and seaports and may only collect biometrics from a limited population.