IATA agents are reminded that from 1 February 2019, BSP UK will be migrated to the NewGen ISS Agency Rules under Resolution 812.

It is important that you familiarise yourself with the new rules as soon as possible, to understand the potential impact on your business.

IATA has issued a bulletin dated 1 October with further information.

Two areas to highlight are Risk Status and Remittance Holding Capacity (RHC).

Important note in relation to Risk Status: any Major Change of Ownership or Change of Legal Status constitutes a Risk Event applicable for 24 months. This Risk Event will impact the Agent’s Risk History Assessment and may result in a downgrade of the Agent’s Risk Status, which could mean the Agent is required to provide a Financial Security to maintain authorisation to use the Cash Payment Method. If you have any concerns that this might apply to your business, you can contact IATA for further information and advice.

The Remittance Holding Capacity (RHC) introduces a monetary threshold for agent’s BSP Cash sales. Agents will be notified by email when they reach 50%, 75% and 100% of the determined RHC, and will be able to monitor their RHC usage directly through the IATA Customer Portal, under a dedicated screen called “Risk Profile and RHC.” Once you reach the RHC threshold, you can only issue tickets using customer cards or IATA EasyPay, as cash sales will be restricted. So make sure you have the right email address registered with the IATA Customer Portal Administrators and check who can access the RHC screen for your business.

More information for agents is available on https://newgeniss.iata.org/travel-agents/

If you have any questions, please contact IATA directly on www.iata.org/cs

Your ABTA contact for IATA issues or queries is Susan Deer, Senior Solicitor, who can be reached on sdeer@abta.co.uk.