On Thursday 5 December, the European Commission proposed to phase in the operations of the new EU Entry/Exit System (EES) developed by the eu-LISA agency, giving Member States six months to deploy it.
“The EES is a state-of-the-art IT system that will digitally record the entries and exits, passport data, fingerprints and facial images of third-country nationals on short-term stays in one of the EU Member States or Schengen area countries”, explains the Commission in a press release.
“It will facilitate travel, modernise the management of external borders, reduce identity fraud and make it possible to identify people who overstay their visas, while strengthening the security of the Schengen area. It will also make it possible to automate border controls, gradually speed up border procedures and improve the experience of travellers”.
After the summer, France, Germany and the Netherlands told the Commission that they were not technically ready to deploy the system, which was due to come into force in mid-November. They had particular concerns about difficulties at airports (see EUROPE 13493/11).
The Regulation provides for a phased roll-out: Member States will launch EES operations progressively, starting with the registration of a minimum of 10% of estimated border crossings and reaching full registration of all persons by the end of the phasing-in period. Refusals of entry will be recorded at the border crossing points where the EES operates.
There are also temporary rules derogating from the EES Regulation and the Schengen Borders Code: the compulsory stamping of travel documents for all persons falling within the scope of the EES will remain in place until the end of the phasing-in period.
The competent authorities must take into account the fact that the data recorded in the EES during the gradual start-up of EES operations may be incomplete. The data recorded in the EES during the phasing-in period will not be used by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency for risk analysis and vulnerability assessment, the regulation goes on to explain.
Link to the proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/enp (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)