Australian Customs and Border Protection Service together with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection are working towards automating the departures process by trialling eGates at Brisbane International Airport.

 

What you can expect if you volunteer for the trial

 

* From July 2014 officers at Brisbane airport will be seeking participation from travellers departing the country to test the trial eGates.

 

* Participation is entirely voluntary.

 

* This process may not be quicker or easier for travellers in the early phases of the trial, so we are seeking volunteers who are happy to assist us and are interested in building the border processing solution for the future.

 

* During the first phase of the trial, travellers who use the eGates will still need to proceed through to manual processing by a Customs and Border Protection officer before leaving Australia.

 

How do the eGates work?

 

* The eGates work by scanning your passport and matching your passport image with your live image at the eGate.

 

* If the two images match, and you pass other Immigration checks, the eGate will open and allow you to exit.

 

* For the first phase of the trial, the eGates will capture the information and open to allow you to exit regardless of the result. You will then need to then be manually processed by a Customs and Border Protection officer to clear the border. We are doing this so we can compare the performance of the eGates to the existing process to ensure we maintain the integrity of our border.

 

Passenger using an eGatePassenger using an eGate

 

The legal stuff

 

* In order to make sure the best eGate solution is selected as part of the trial we need to test the eGate’s ability to analyse your biometric details against the image stored in your passport.

 

* To do this your photograph will be taken and stored along with your passport information. This will be used to test the eGates and provide Immigration clearance when we get to that stage of the trial.

 

* Your data will be securely stored in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles in schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 and may be provided to Commonwealth agencies and contractors within Australia.

 

Further information regarding how we handle your personal information can be found in our privacy policy.

 

Air New Zealand and Qantas travellers

 

From the beginning of September 2014 travellers on board select Air New Zealand and Qantas international flights will be invited to use the trial eGates when departing Australia. This is an essential part of the trial as the travellers will be self-processing providing invaluable data which will assist in a final solution being chosen at the end of the project. This part of the trial would not be possible without the support of our industry partners Air New Zealand and Qantas.