Normandy’s Channel ports will be affected by the start of the New European Entry/Exit System border controls from November 10.
The Connexion spoke to Ports de Normandie development and promotion director Jérôme Chauvet about the challenges involved and what travellers can expect when EES gets underway.
The lack of chance for testing new systems, longer queues, and new costs, are among the worries for the ports, though they say November is a fairly quiet period, so a good choice for a start date.
EES is a new system of digital checks at the Schengen area’s external borders, such as between the UK and France, with travellers having to give passport details and have biometric data (facial image and fingerprints) taken and entered into an EU database.
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Once a database entry has been made, it will be valid for three years, with passengers not having to provide both kinds of biometric data again on subsequent entries/exits during this time.
The aim is to better control the entry and exit of non-EU/EEA/Swiss travellers to and from the Schengen area and to check automatically on their respect of the 90/180 days rule in the case of nationals who do not need short-stay visas to visit the area.
Non-EU citizens living in Schengen countries such as France will not be affected by EES but may be caught up in longer queues, and there are new admin procedures for families with children.
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Ports de Normandie manages the ports of Cherbourg, Caen-Ouistreham and Dieppe, which are served on cross-Channel services by Brittany Ferries and DFDS, as well as Irish Ferries and Stena Line for Ireland. EES will especially concern crossings to the UK, but also non-EU/EES/Swiss visitors on Ireland-France trips, as Ireland is outside the Schengen area.
We understand that November 10 is the start date now?
Yes, but there have been quite a few postponements already – though we are told there will be no more. We will see what happens.
Larger airports as well as Eurotunnel and Eurostar are installing kiosks where passengers will pre-register some data before going to the border guard’s booth, and Dover and Calais plan to use tablets that will be handed to car passengers. Is the same planned in your ports?
It will mostly be tablets due to the nature of our traffic.
Foot passengers are less than 10% of this. They will be collected by a shuttle bus at the port which will take them to the ferry terminal where they will pre-register at kiosks before going to the immigration controls where a border guard will check them.
Those in cars will be pre-registered while they are in the queue waiting to pass the border. A member of staff with a tablet will approach and give it to them. They will not be allowed to get out of the car.
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What will happen with coaches?
It will depend on the port, for example at Caen-Ouistreham there will be a specific place to accommodate coaches where people will get out and there will be a kiosk. At Dieppe they will go to kiosks at the ferry terminal.
What data will have to be given at kiosks? Will there be an English-language option?
The problem for the moment is we have not had any tests. When Brexit happened there was a fairly in-depth dialogue about new customs procedures with the Douanes [customs officers] with dry-run tests, at least two at each port, so we could learn and make corrections. In this case there have not been any tests at all.
Will the police aux frontières – Paf – or the Douanes undertake the checks?
It depends on the port. At Cherbourg it is the Paf and at Ouistreham and Dieppe it is the Douanes. There has not been a test at any port, so we do not yet know the equipment well and how it is going to work. We do not have much knowledge of the kiosk interfaces. We are going to discover it all properly as it gets underway.
They will take a facial image, for example?
Yes, facial image, plus fingerprints on the first entry on the territory. The passenger will then pass in front of the border guard who will check that the fingerprints that have been entered a few minutes before correspond to the prints of the person passing the border.
We have heard from other transport providers that kiosks are expected to ask travel questions – about accommodation, sufficient funds for the trip etc – is that the case in your ports? Won’t it take extra time?
I have not heard that, but indeed our big concern is the time that these procedures will take. If it is necessary for passengers to respond to such questions it will take longer for them to pass the border which is not good news.
Will the kiosk take the passenger’s information via a scan?
The passport will be scanned by the border guard at the border. I do not believe there will be a scan before that.
So they will have to manually type in personal details?
It will be necessary to give ‘biographic’ details such as name, date of birth, gender etc. I am not sure exactly how they will be taken by the kiosk or tablet.
Are you equipped with the tablets and kiosks?
Yes, the government has provided these and they are ready.
The most costly thing for us is putting up canopies to protect the agents handing out the tablets and ensure the correct conditions for taking the biometric data.
Another investment is signage to direct people according to whether they are ‘EU’ or ‘non-EU’. At Dieppe we will create an additional queue to allow as many border guard posts as possible to speed things up where we can.
Plus - the most tiresome aspect - the personnel who will distribute the tablets and explain how to use them will be recruited by the ports.
We only have around three ferry stops a day, for example at Ouistreham, at 06:00 at 15:30 and at 22:00. We will not be able to use the same recruit as the time period is too long. They will only be needed for around two hours and will have to speak English. Recruitment will be complicated and potentially costly for us.
We believe the costs will be several hundreds of thousand euros per year, per port. We will be talking with the ferry companies as we think, ideally, they should absorb these costs and potentially recoup them in the ticket price.
Have the Paf and Douanes recruited more agents?
We do not know. They say they are doing their best.
Will ferry companies have to communicate the requirements to their passengers?
Yes, communication will be important, so the passengers know there will be a special procedure on arrival. And they will need to flag up ‘EU’ and ‘non-EU’ cars.
Will there be a specific process for ‘non-EU’ citizens who live in France?
EES won’t be applied to people with long-stay visas. In principle they will not need to undergo the pre-registration procedures but as to which queue we will direct them to…
So they may have to join the ‘non-EU’ queue, but just not give EES data?
Yes. And as there is not any space for cars to park up for pre-registration it will need to be done in the queues heading for the exit. So, those people will no doubt have to wait with the rest and may have to wait longer.
Will people going to the UK have to arrive earlier than now?
There will still be an EES procedure to be done, with at least one of the biometric data to be taken again, but we are less worried than with arrivals, as people generally come quite early, and not all together.
We are more concerned about arrivals from the UK as we do not know how well the tablets will work. We are told it will take on average an extra one-and-a-half minutes per car. Today it is around 30-45 seconds, so the time needed will significantly increase.
Plus, the tablet will register biographic and biometric data and send it to a European database and when the car arrives at the border guard’s booth, he or she will validate the data, checking the database. Will it all work well? We do not yet know which is a concern for us.
Why have there not been any opportunities for tests?
Many countries have taken a long time to get ready and it has taken time to get the tablets working correctly. And in France, we have had the Olympics and Paralympics so the Interior Ministry has been focused on that and stated there should not be any tests from May to September. So the combination of technical readiness and the games is the reason we have not had an opportunity to undertake any tests in the ports.
So you hope it will work out well, but have concerns?
Exactly. But one aspect with which we are satisfied is the fact that the ports are not too busy in November – the passenger flows are much reduced. This is not necessarily the case at airports which see plenty of business travel at that time.
An EU phone app is apparently being prepared to help with pre-registering – do you know about this?
Yes, but it is not very clear.
What we would like is for pre-registration [of arriving passengers] to be done in the embarkation port, or otherwise on board. There are at least three hours during the journey when this could be done.
There are snags with this. A border guard has to be there to supervise pre-registration operation - in fact, an extra cabin will be installed halfway along our queues for this.
So, there needs to be a [French] border guard on the UK side which requires a treaty that does not currently exist [editor’s note: this is in place already at Dover, but not at other UK ferry ports]. Or there would need to be a border guard on the ferry, meaning increased staffing costs, and we are already facing a shortage of guards.
With regard to the app, the French government says it is basically the European Commission that is holding things up. At the same time we hear that the Commission says that it is making this available, so we are unsure of the actual position.
It sounds as if the legal framework for people to use an app on their own to pre-register is not very clear?
That is right. I understand there are also technical issues with respect to data security if biometric data is sent via a phone.
Are the ferry companies doing what they can to prepare?
Yes. We are working together to try to ensure it goes as smoothly as possible. And six months later the companies will also need to check that their passengers have their [Etias] right to travel to the Schengen area.
