The introduction of new European Union border controls has reportedly been delayed yet again, following fears of delays during the October school half-term holidays.
The Times has reported that the new Entry-Exit System (EES) was due to start on October 6 but has been pushed back to November 10 after lobbying from French officials.
Under the EES, all passengers without EU passports will be required to have their fingerprints registered and their pictures taken on arrival.
The new system will add two to three minutes processing time per passenger, up from the present 45 seconds.
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It has prompted fears about passenger backlogs at airport arrival halls, the port of Dover and Eurostar trains from St Pancras International in London.
The Times report said there will also be an “emergency” option to delay the start until November 17 at the 11th hour if member states raise concerns.
“This will be followed by a grace period in which border staff can open a ‘relief valve’, meaning passengers at crowded checkpoints could be spared biometric registration,” added the report.
The new system, which has been delayed several times, had originally been due to start in May but was delayed until October because of IT problems and lobbying by French officials because of preparations for the Olympics.
Christian Wigand, a European Commission spokesperson, told the Independent: “The roadmap for the delivery of the new IT architecture foresees that the entry-exit system will be ready to enter into operation in autumn 2024 and that Etias [European Travel Information and Authorisation System] will be ready to enter into operation in spring 2025.
“The exact date will be determined by the European Commission and announced on the EES official website well in time for the start of operations. At the moment we do not have a date to communicate.”
The EES section on the European Union website says the date for the system to become operational is still to be confirmed.