A mobile app touted to enable advance registration with the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) at the border remains unready and is not designed for first-time registration.
That is according to John Keefe, chief corporate and public affairs officer of Eurotunnel parent Getlink.
Giving evidence to the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee last week, Keefe said: “The possibility of enrolling data away from the point of entry has great value.
“[But] it’s not clear when the app will be available, [and] it’s being prepared for subsequent entry to the EU not first entry and enrolment in the system. It’s targeted at those already enrolled in the system.”
Chair of the committee Lord Foster asked whether the app “could not be used for the initial capture of data”.
But Keefe told him: “Initial enrolment will have to be done at a kiosk. Introduction of the app will speed up subsequent entry. But on first entrance you will have to register and that will be the case for some time.”
The EU had targeted November 10 as the launch date for the EES biometric system which is designed to replace passport checking with a traveller’s digital photo and fingerprints, but it is already more than two years late.
Brussels confirmed the postponement of the launch earlier this month with the systems still insufficiently tested.
No alternative launch date has been set, with the EU now considering “a phased approach” instead.
It has previously promised a communications campaign in advance of any launch and the availability of a mobile app to enable remote registration.
Eurostar general secretary and chief strategic partnerships officer Gareth Williams agreed with Keefe, saying: “In the first phase, the app won’t be able to do anything with fingerprints. That will remain at the kiosk.”
Keefe noted that at the Eurotunnel border every four kiosks will be under the control of just one border officer.