Analysis: How the EU’s Entry/Exit System will roll out

The EU’s biometric Entry Exit System will launch in 29 countries on Sunday (October 12) but not everywhere at once, meaning travellers will face different procedures at different borders.

 

Estonia and Luxembourg will deploy the system at all border points, but most will roll it out over six months and two EU members, Ireland and Cyprus, won’t introduce the system at all.

 

UK travellers will continue to have passports stamped while their biometric data is collected until the deadline for the roll-out, with the system intended to be in use everywhere bar Ireland and Cyprus from April 10 next year.

 

More: UK government launches campaign to raise public awareness of EES

 

Foreign Office issues EES advisories ahead of October 12 introduction

 

Holders of Irish passports will be exempt, despite Ireland being outside the Schengen area of countries to which the EES applies.

 

All those aged 12 and over will have to submit four fingerprints and a photo of their face, with just a facial image required from those under 12. There will be self-service kiosks at some borders allowing travellers to submit face and fingerprint data before reaching border control.

 

Data can’t be submitted in advance of travel until a mobile app is made available, but when it is this won’t allow the submission of fingerprints meaning registration can still only be completed at the border. Travellers’ data will be stored for three years after which they will have to register again.

 

The system can be suspended for up to six hours at peak times to prevent serious delays and queuing.

 

Of the two countries completing their roll-out on the first day, Luxembourg has only one border point and Estonia hosts the headquarters of the EU agency responsible for the system, eu-LISA, in its capital Tallinn. By contrast, Germany will initially have just a single EES checkpoint – at Düsseldorf airport.

 

The EU’s EES-Etias advisory group reported “intensive testing” and “rehearsing scenarios” by member states through the summer and hailed a “successful large-scale rehearsal”.

 

An EU public information campaign, originally promised three months in advance of the launch, finally got underway last week – starting on September 29 – with leaflets, posters, videos and “other visuals” at borders, on social media and on websites.

 

There is no charge for registering with the system, but completion of its roll-out will be followed six months later by the launch of a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) for non-EU travellers exempt from visas, for which a €20 fee is proposed – not €7 as originally planned.

 

Travel and tourism bodies have expressed alarm at the fee, demanding the EC publish an impact assessment with a detailed cost breakdown and confirmation that other pricing models were considered.

 

They have also urged the European Parliament and Council to reject the proposal, requested a more proportionate fee, and urged that any surplus revenue be “assigned to a specific budget, or ideally earmarked for the travel and tourism”.

 

Tom Jenkins, chief executive of European travel association Etoa, said: “When the EC first proposed Etias it was supposed to be cheap. The mood music changed because it has proved much more difficult than they thought. It’s all about control of borders.”

 

The EC first proposed a biometric EES in April 2016 and the European Parliament and Council agreed its entry into force from December 2017.

 

For more information visit travel-europe.europa.eu/ees