On Wednesday 19 November, the Member States approved the EU Council’s negotiating mandate for a draft regulation that will allow for the launch of a EU digital travel application.
This regulation lays down rules for the (voluntary) creation of digital travel documents and their use when crossing external borders (see EUROPE 13499/11).
“The EU digital travel application will make it possible to digitally provide travel data before crossing the border. This clears the path for border officers to remotely verify travel documents and check against border, police and migration databases before travellers arrive in person at a border crossing point. This will shorten waiting times and improve security checks”, adds the EU Council in a press release.
The EU’s digital travel application will consist of a mobile application, a validation service and a router. These three elements will be developed by the eu-LISA agency, in accordance with the functional and technical requirements defined in the regulation.
The mobile component will enable travellers, whether EU citizens or third-country nationals, to create digital travel documents (a digital copy of the data on their passport or identity card) and save time at border crossing points.
Travellers should also be able to use their digital travel identifiers when pre-submitting their entry/exit data under the new system in place since October or the future ETIAS travel authorisation system, planned for 2026.
Link to the mandate: https://aeur.eu/f/jjk (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)