LakeFormation Data Cells Filters: TIMESTAMP data type not supported for row level filter predicate

[Vanshul97]

Description

When creating a LakeFormation Data Cells Filter with a row filter expression that references a column of type timestamp, the API returns:

InvalidInputException: TIMESTAMP data type not supported for row level filter predicate.

This limitation is not documented in the AWS Lake Formation documentation for Data Cells Filters.

Reproduction

aws lakeformation create-data-cells-filter --region us-east-1 --table-data '{
  "DatabaseName": "my_database",
  "TableName": "my_table",
  "Name": "time-restricted-filter",
  "TableCatalogId": "123456789012",
  "ColumnWildcard": {"ExcludedColumnNames": []},
  "RowFilter": {"FilterExpression": "\"timestamp\" > '\''2026-05-01 00:00:00'\''"}
}'

Error:

An error occurred (InvalidInputException) when calling the CreateDataCellsFilter operation: TIMESTAMP data type not supported for row level filter predicate.

Context

• Table is an Apache Iceberg table in Glue Catalog
• Column timestamp is of Glue type timestamp
• Filters on STRING columns (e.g., servicename <> 'foo') work correctly
• Tested with various timestamp expression syntaxes — all fail with the same error

Expressions tested (all fail)

• "timestamp" > '2026-05-01 00:00:00'
• timestamp > date_sub(current_date(), 30)
• timestamp > cast(now() - interval 30 days as timestamp)
• timestamp >= current_timestamp - interval '30' day
• timestamp >= current_date() - INTERVAL 30 DAYS

Impact

This makes it impossible to implement time-based row-level access control using Data Cells Filters — a common use case for restricting access to older data that may contain PII per data retention policies.

Expected behavior

Row filter expressions should support TIMESTAMP columns, or at minimum this limitation should be documented clearly in the Data Cells Filters documentation.

Environment

• AWS CLI version: 2.x
• Region: us-east-1
• Table type: Apache Iceberg (Glue Catalog)
• LakeFormation hybrid access mode enabled