TWIC Reader ANPRM – Record Keeping Requirements

This is the final blog posting in a series of blogs about the advanced notice of proposed rule making (ANPRM) that the Coast Guard recently published about the potential regulation of transportation worker’s identification credential (TWIC) reading devices. These devices would be used to verify the identity of people working in ships and facilities covered under the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA). The other blogs in this series include: TWIC Reader ANPRM – Identification Techniques TWIC Reader ANPRM – Risk Groups TWIC Reader ANPRM – Reader Use by Risk Groups TWIC Reader ANPRM – Recurring Unescorted Access TWIC Reader ANPRM – Security Plan Requirements The ANPRM expresses the Coast Guard’s current thinking about what types of requirements will be included in the regulations that will be formally proposed later this year. This post looks at potential requirements for record keeping. As with any government program, record keeping will be used to confirm compliance with the new rules. Unescorted Access Records The TWIC Readers will be able to record the date and time of every reading, along with appropriate personal identification information. This type of information may be of use in law enforcement investigations. The Coast Guard is considering requiring facility and vessel owners to keep records of the entry data for two years. Since Risk Group C facilities and vessels are not required to use a TWIC Reader to control access, they will not be required to maintain these records. Interestingly, the Coast Guard is specifically not expecting to require that exit data records be maintained. They explain that they believe that “that type of requirement would be burdensome compared to the security benefit that it would provide” (74 FR 13368). With no requirement to record exit data, there will be no requirement to read TWIC upon exiting the facility/vessel. Recurring Unaccompanied Access Records For facilities or vessels that use the recurring unaccompanied access procedure the Coast Guard is expecting to require that the owner/operator maintain records of people that have been granted unaccompanied access under the procedure. The Coast Guard expects that they would be able to look at such records during an inspection and determine the identity of the (fourteen or fewer) personnel currently being authorized unaccompanied access under the recurring unaccompanied access procedure. The other part of the recurring unaccompanied access procedure that will be inspectable is the requirement to periodically check the validity of the TWIC. To be inspectable the Coast Guard would have to require that records of the validity checks would have to be maintained.