Rennes airport opens 300m2 building for new EU border controls
From next month, airports across France will need to manage the new system, and invest in technology to efficiently process passengers’ entry and exit
Rennes airport has made significant investments so as to cope with the new borders systems
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Rennes airport in Brittany has opened a new 300m2 building to facilitate passenger border controls under the European Entry/Exit System (EES), which is due to come into force this November.
Rennes Bretagne’s new building, dubbed Satellite Ouest, opened on October 7.
Read also: New EU border controls: Will changes really start in November?
“This new arrivals area will improve the passenger experience and flow management,” Yannick Bouiller, the new director of Rennes Airport, told journalists.
“From the outset of the project, the customs authorities were consulted in order to adapt the new facilities to the operating needs of the airport,” he said. He added that there will be four border guard booths, organised in a way “to improve waiting conditions” and “process administrative formalities as efficiently as possible”.
The new building will include systems required to efficiently process new EES requirements, including cameras to take photographs of the passenger’s face, and scanners to take fingerprints. It will also enable officials to log the passenger’s date and place of entry and exit, or refusal of entry.
Read also: Will new biometric controls ‘reset’ 90/180 day rule for travel to France?
In Rennes, the investment has totalled €1 million.
This was co-financed by the Société d'exploitation des aéroports de Rennes et Dinard-Pleurtuit (SEARD), the Rennes Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), the Vinci Airports company, and the Brittany region, which owns the airport.
What is the EES?
The new system will digitally log the entry and exit dates to and from the Schengen area of non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizens who are visiting a country or countries in the area.
Non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizens who are residents in the EU/EEA/Switzerland are, however, exempt. There is a page outlining who the EES does not apply to on the official EU website page here.
In theory, the EES will remove the need to stamp passports or manually calculate whether someone has respected the EU’s 90/180 days rule for permitted visits (without a long-stay visa).
The introduction of the EES has already been delayed several times, from an originally planned start in spring 2022. The main EES website still just states that it will start “in the second half of 2024”.
There are concerns that - especially on first use - the process will be time-consuming, as visitors will have to have a facial image and fingerprints (‘biometric data’), and passport data, taken and entered into a database. They are also expected to have to answer questions about their trip.
The process is intended to be quicker on subsequent entries and exits, as the person will already have a database entry.
Some ports and airports will use ‘pre-registration’ equipment - including self-use ‘kiosks’ or tablet computers - to provide some of the details prior to arrival at border guards’ booths. This could save time.
In other cases, such as at smaller regional airports like Rennes, everything is expected to be completed at a booth. The European Commission is also working on a pre-registration app called Quick Border, but it is not expected to be ready to use in France this year.
Neither EU/EEA/Swiss citizens nor foreign people living full-time in Schengen countries, including France, who have valid residency cards or visas are officially affected - but there are concerns that they could get caught up in longer queues.
Find out more about EES in our guide to the European Entry/Exit System and the related Etias scheme, priced €4.99.
