Brussels, 01/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - The pilot project on smart borders entered its implementation stage on 15 March, beginning with Lisbon airport, which has put in place the first voluntary tests on travellers from non-EU countries. On Tuesday 31 March, MEPs from the European Parliament's civil liberties committee (LIBE) adopted several questions on this “package”, which will be sent to both the Commission and Council. The Commission had planned to withdraw this package at the end of the year after the pilot phase, to recast certain proposals in 2016.
The MEPs want to know whether the Commission and the Council believe that the entry-exit programme for travellers and the regular travellers' registration programme (both part of the “smart borders” package) are an appropriate response to the situation at the EU's external borders, LIBE says.
They also want more information on the law enforcement agencies' potential access to the systems - ruled out hitherto by the European Commission - and on the possible impact of the European Court of Justice decision on data retention in April 2014, in terms of travellers' data protection.
The entry-exit system and the programme for registering regular travellers (RTP) are both aimed at recording the time, place of entry and exit of third country nationals crossing external borders. They also seek to calculate the length of time of these travellers' visits, as well as sound the alarm when the authorised periods for visits have expired. The RTP will allow certain kinds of travellers who travel frequently (such as businessmen, family members, etc.) from third countries to enter the EU (subject to appropriate pre-screening) with simplified border controls, including automatic doors.
MEPs asked the Commission whether it intended to “present a single legislative proposal to be complemented by an amendment to the Schengen border code or two different proposals”. Does the Commission intend to carry out another impact study? Will these proposals settle the problem of “over-stayers”, foreign visitors who stay beyond the deadlines agreed on their visas?
MEPs also had questions about the costs of the smart borders package. In 2013, the Commission calculated that this would cost almost €1 billion. The Commission and Council are expected to provide oral answers to these questions at the end of April, during the Strasbourg plenary, the committee indicated. (Solenn Paulic)