A warning about amid major change to the entry system for entering the European Union has been issued as a survey suggests Brits don’t know about it. It could be implemented as soon as November and there are fears that it could lead to 14-hour queues at the borders in some cases.
New research by Co-op Insurance has revealed that 63 per cent of respondents in a UK conducted in the United Kingdom, are not aware of the EU EES, a new entry/exit system that is set to be implemented in October 2024. The plans will introduce a new electronic border control biometric checking system in Europe.
MPs have already raised fears that it could lead to massive delays and in France airport bosses are lobbying the European Union to halt the plans amid concerns that if it is introduced later this year, it could lead to meltdown. In the survey 46 per cent of respondents do not like the fact that their data will remain in the system for up to three years.
The Entry/Exit System is being implemented as an effort to replace the manual stamping of passports with digitally checking the facial and fingerprint data of those who arrive for the first time in Europe. All nationals of third countries that are travelling to the Schengen Area, including those in the visa-exempt programme and those under the visa regime, will be subject to this system - including the UK due to Brexit.
Under the new entry and exit system (EES), all passengers without EU passports will be required to have their fingerprints registered and their pictures taken on arrival in the bloc. But as the scheme is currently planned, travellers will be unable to register remotely ahead of travel.
The system’s launch had been due in May but was delayed because of IT problems as well as lobbying by French officials who did not want the scheme in place during the Olympics. L’Union des Aéroports Français, which represents airports in the country, is concerned that its members will not have time to set up sufficient kiosks to collect biometric data. There is particular concern that Parisian airports will be unprepared because of the Games.
Thomas Juin, the body’s president, said: “It is not looking good for waiting times. There are risks of really long queues.” The Parliament European Scrutiny Committee has also raised concerns about the EES, saying that its implementation will cause up to 14-hour-long waits at the border between the EU and the UK. The Committee said that the long waits would affect not only travellers but also the economy and businesses of local citizens near the border.
The plan is that arriving passengers will register their details at a kiosk, then proceed to a staffed border point. EES will eventually replace the so-called “wet stamping” of passports. Nicolas Paulissen, the general delegate of the airports body, said: “November 6 was decided at the start of this year. We want to delay it to the first quarter of 2025 but, for now, the European Commission is fixed in its position. But this year’s Olympics mean we are unable to carry out work in the Paris airports from May to September.”
Bosses at the Channel Tunnel in Kent, where border controls are juxtaposed with French immigration formalities conducted on UK land, estimate that the average time for processing a car through the border will rise from less than one minute to between five and seven minutes.
There are also concerns about bottlenecks at the Port of Dover and the Eurostar terminal in London. In January officials in Kent said that holidaymakers driving to Europe would face queues of 15 hours or more in the county when the EES comes into force. Ashford borough council wrote to MPs on the European scrutiny committee that the “reasonable worst-case scenario” would result in gridlock in Kent and “welfare concerns for passengers”.
A second system - the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is an entry requirement for visa-exempt nationals travelling to a select 30 European countries. Tourists heading to destinations like Spain, Italy, France and Portugal will soon need the entry document to visit - and they have been warned that the process to get ETIAS can take around 30 days - when it is finally brought in. It will have to be shown at the same time as the new electronic system scans the passport automatically.
The EU has now set a date for this to be introduced - May 2025 after technical issues with the equipment. However the Commons European Scrutiny Committee has launched a new inquiry into the EU Entry/Exit System and its potential consequences for the UK’s border.
An ETIAS permit will cost around €7 and all travellers planning to visit one or more of the 30 countries where the pass is applicable will have to pay to get one, with a couple of exceptions. Applicants over the age of 70 will receive an ETIAS free of charge, as will minors (aged 18 or under).
The European countries that will require a valid ETIAS upon arrival at their borders are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
