Tanzania passenger data record

Data protection law and regulator

The Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 is Act No. 11 of 2022 ¹. Tanzania's legal information institute lists its assent date as 27 November 2022 ⁹. The official English text, published by the Attorney General as Government Notice No. 395B on 13 June 2023, shows 1 May 2023 and GN No. 326 of 2023 beneath the long title ^1,2. Section 6 establishes the Personal Data Protection Commission ¹.

Section 14 says no person may collect or process personal data without being registered as a controller or processor ¹. Registration lasts five years under section 16, and section 21 treats public institutions as registered ¹. Section 30 requires prior written consent for sensitive personal data, and section 27(5) requires controllers to notify the Commission of security breaches without undue delay ¹.

Part V governs transfers abroad ¹. Section 31 lets the Commission prohibit transfers and allows them to countries with adequate protection, and section 32 covers transfers to countries without it ¹. Section 58(2) allows processing to be exempted where data is held to safeguard national safety and security or to prevent or detect crime ¹.

The API and border control proposal

On 16 June 2025 the Director General of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) issued a paper proposing a fee on international passengers arriving at Tanzanian airports ³. The fee would fund an Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) and an electronic border control system, called eBMC, including maintenance, staff training and upgrades ³. The paper cites UN Security Council resolutions 2178, 2396 and 2482 and Standard 9.7 of ICAO Annex 9 ³.

The paper says API and PNR will be complemented by eBMC components: e-visa and a travel authorisation system, an Integrated Immigration Control System and an Intelligent Information Management System ³. It does not name a receiving agency, a supplier, data fields, a retention period or a data protection law ³. It lists data privacy standards and cyber security among cost factors ³. A public hearing was set for 23 June 2025 at Aviation House, Dar es Salaam ³.

A UN Countering Terrorist Travel Programme presentation of 4 March 2025 lists the United Republic of Tanzania among 31 African beneficiary states ⁷.

The passenger facilitation fee

As reported by Kiran Molloy of Tourism Update on 19 August 2025, the Passenger Facilitation Fee is US$45 per one-way international journey into Tanzania and US$90 for a return trip ⁴. It applies to international air passengers from 1 November, infants under two are exempt, and airlines collect it at the point of sale ⁴. The report said TCAA linked the fee to installing API and eBMC systems, with PNR and other components to follow ⁴. It gave no Government Notice number and named no technology supplier ⁴.

In the same report, IATA regional vice president Kamil Al Awadhi said taxes, fees and charges in Africa are already 12 to 15 percent above the global average and urged alignment with ICAO principles ⁴. On 30 July 2026 IATA, AFRAA and AASA asked African states not to fund API and PNR programmes through charges on airlines or passengers ⁸. That statement did not name Tanzania ⁸.

Official finding on API and PNR

The TCAA paper states that in a 2023 ICAO Universal Security Audit Programme audit Tanzania scored 86.94 percent and ranked fourth in Africa ³. The paper says the country failed protocol questions on API and PNR implementation ³. This is the only official finding on passenger data systems we found.

E-visa and the immigration website

The Immigration Service Department publishes an official website ⁶. Its visa application system at visa.immigration.go.tz asks applicants to fill in an online form, pay and submit ⁵. Applicants are told by e-mail whether the visa is approved and can track status online ⁵. The portal pages we opened did not list fees, uploaded documents or a privacy notice ⁵.

Chronology