The start of the EU's new digital borders scheme, which is now expected to launch in phases, has hit another problem as the change requires a new EU law that must be approved.
One French transport industry leader says this could take “at least two years” to be fully implemented.
A draft 6,000-word regulation on the rules of a ‘progressive start’ has been tabled, but to become EU law it must be adopted by the EU’s council and parliament.
Only then, and once all countries report they are ready, can a start date be set.
The council, noting that the latest ‘target date’ has come and gone, insists the scheme must be launched well before 2027.
It says EU-Lisa, the agency for large-scale IT systems, must provide a new ‘roadmap’ with dates by January 31 – but what this will contain is not clear due to the approval steps required.
The Entry/Exit System (EES) was to launch – after three previous postponements – last November 10 but a European commissioner said in October this was not possible.
Three countries, including France, had failed to declare readiness and there were also concerns about the ‘resilience’ of the IT systems.
Read more: Confirmed: EU states EES border changes will not start this year
What will the EES entail for travellers?
EES will involve – on first entry or exit to/from the Schengen area – the creation of a digital record for each non-EU/EEA/Swiss short-stay visitor.
It will include passport details, date of entry/exit, a facial image and a fingerprint scan along with short travel questions.
French residency card and visa holders will be exempt but may be caught up in the queues.
Read more: Will EES registration be required in France for EU residency permit holders?
Data from every border point – international airport, port, station – will be sent to a national system, then forwarded to a central EU database.
This is intended to remove the need for pass
port stamps or manual checking of the 90/180
day rule for future entries and exits.
The EU regulations governing EES give little flexibility: the system is meant to start everywhere simultaneously and continue until there are technical breakdowns, in which case basic data could be collected manually.
However, after discussions with the UK, where EES will operate at Dover and Eurostar and Eurotunnel terminals, the EU was said to have agreed to ‘precautionary measures’ in the first six months.
In the event of long queues, a digital file would be created but no biometric data would be taken or travel questions asked.
Read more: November 10 start date for EES would have been 'utter carnage,' UK Lords told
In October, however, the commissioner said “phasing in” by starting at some border points and not others would be desirable.
Legal analysis was undertaken to see if this could be achieved without changes to EU law, however this has proved not to be possible.
Is an autumn 2026 launch in sight?
The general delegate of the Union of French Airports, Nicolas Paulissen, predicts a launch in autumn this year at the earliest.
“Putting it off is good news and a phased start would be good, but flexibility is limited within current texts. This is more crisis management.
“But a ‘real’ progressive start, with a rewrite, could take at least two years. I think there will now be a debate on the com
mission’s idea. Will all member states agree? Or do we stay with what we have, and what room for manoeuvre is there?
“The EU is likely to be torn between security concerns – as they want EES to allow for better controls and it is meant to be followed by Etias [online pre-approval application to enter the EU] – or making things easier for the start.”
If it happens, starting EES at just some large regional airports could be envisaged, he said.
Even if the EU decides to go ahead without a new regulation, he predicts a launch next autumn at the earliest, as the EU will not want to start just before the summer season.
The delay means Paris airports will have plenty of time to complete testing of pre-registration kiosks for travellers to use to input some data, to avoid everything having to be done at border guard booths.
It also means more work can be done to ensure Parafe automatic passport gates are adapted to be used on subsequent entries and exits, avoiding the need for non-EU visitors to pass again before border guards’ desks.
It is still unclear if Britons, Americans and other non-EU national residents in France will also be able to use the Parafes to avoiding queues at desks.
An EU app that is meant to help pre-register some passenger data “should be ready soon” said Mr Paulissen.
At an EU council meeting in December, a minister said once EES finally starts, Etias will come six months later.
“That will be a first step and by 2027 we also want to have achieved inter-operability” – a wider frame
work of IT integration of which EES and Etias are part.
He said the three “unready” states and EU-Lisa had blamed each other, “but hopefully by January 31 that issue can be resolved and we will have more specific deadlines as to what will be happening by when”.
The draft ‘progressive start’ regulation includes:
- At least one external Schengen border point in each state must start EES from ‘day one’
- From ‘day one’, each country must collect data of at least 10% of non-EU short-stay visitors. This will increase over six months to 100%
- Travellers’ passports will continue being stamped during this six-month period
- It will be possible to temporarily suspend the EES system in the event of disruptions or technical failures
- Officials may skip collection of facial images and fingerprints if judged necessary to “tackle excessive waiting times”.
IT issues to blame
In France, some airports and ports had reported problems with late installation and lack of testing of self-service ‘kiosks’ and tablet computers to The Connexion.
Read more: French ferry ports: ‘IT and tablets not ready for EES border changes’
An investigation into the repeated postponements of EES by US financial platform Bloomberg claimed that French IT company Atos has been “at the centre of many of the problems.”
Atos is building the hardware and software for the central system and has been accused of failings, including losing parts, taking weeks to fix bugs, and sending inexperienced teams.
Read more: EES digital borders delays: French IT firm reported to be largely to blame
EU-Lisa, however, was partly responsible, according to unnamed EU officials cited, since while such a large project requires some outsourcing, it had outsourced “everything”.
Atos did not reply to requests for comment.
EU-Lisa said it had been “fully committed and worked hard to meet the various expectations in a realistic manner”.
It was “doing its utmost to ensure a timely roll-out, at the earliest, in line with the politically-agreed approach”.
Technical teams at the EU council will now examine the draft regulation, and EU states will have to agree on a common position.
Amendments might be proposed, and EU parliament experts will work on the text.
The two will negotiate to find a compromise if their final versions are different, and both bodies will have to ‘adopt’ the regulation formally before it can come into force.
A parliament spokeswoman said the time this will take “depends on political decisions – for example, whether to propose amendments or not”.
First, the parliament must appoint an MEP to be responsible for the file, who will be re
sponsible for drafting the report.
