On Tuesday 8 October, the European Commission adopted two proposals for regulations aimed at digitising passports and identity cards, also known as ‘EU Digital Travel applications’, for people travelling to and from the Schengen area.
These two initiatives won’t make it compulsory for Member States to issue these digital documents systematically, but they will have to do so for citizens who request them, explained the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson.
“Both EU citizens and non-EU citizens are subject to systematic checks when crossing the EU’s external borders. Currently, these checks are made physically at the border crossing point. With almost 600 million crossings recorded in 2023 alone, there is a need to speed up border controls and ensure smoother travel, while at the same time maintaining a high level of security, ensuring that each and every traveller is checked”, explains a press release.
The Commission is proposing a common framework for the use of digital travel documents and a new ‘EU Digital Travel application’, which will enable travellers to create and store their digital travel documents. These new rules will make travelling to and within the Schengen area easier and safer.
They will also comply with all personal data protection requirements.
Digital travel documents are a digital version of the data stored on passports and identity cards. This data includes the information contained in the passport’s or identity card’s chip, including the holder’s facial image, but not his or her fingerprints. A digital travel document can be stored on a mobile phone.
“It will be completely voluntary for travellers to ask for or use this digital version of their documents, free of charge”, adds the press release.
Travellers will be able to present their passport or digital identity card before travelling, for early border control, when entering or leaving the EU.
This “could improve the efficiency of border controls, [enabling] border management [...] to focus their time and resources on detecting cross-border criminals and migrant smuggling”, the Commission goes on to say.
The EU Digital Travel application will be developed by the European Commission, with the support of eu-LISA, and rolled out across the EU. It will be available in 2030 to all EU and non-EU citizens holding a biometric passport or EU identity card and travelling to or from the Schengen area. This will enable digital travel documents to be stored in the European Digital Identity Wallet.
Link to proposals: https://aeur.eu/f/drr (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)