Dept. of Foreign Affairs said:
Advanced Passenger Information
The European Union passed a Directive 2004/82/CE on 29th April 2004 regarding the obligation of carriers (airlines, ferries etc.) to provide details of passengers. Spain was the first EU country to put this Directive into practice with a national regulation which came into effect on 17th March 2007. Carriers were given three months to set up the necessary systems in order to obtain this data effectively and without adversely affecting passengers.