The new timescale announced on Wednesday means British travellers entering the EU will not be required to have their fingerprints and facial biometrics taken until 2024 at the earliest, as post-Brexit checks are pushed back once again.
Europe’s delayed entry/exit system (EES) was expected to take effect in 2021 and is currently due to commence in November 2023. But it is now expected that the electronic border scheme will not go ahead this year, because the database on which it depends will not be ready in time.
A formal announcement is expected in June.
The earliest possible date for the checks to be brought in is now believed to be May 2024, but that option is meeting stiff opposition from Paris, which is hosting the summer Olympics from 26th July to 11th August 2024 next year.
France is expecting to welcome many tens of thousands of athletes, support staff, officials, media and sports fans for the Games. The organisers do not want any added frontier friction or possible teething problems from EES.
A more likely date in 2024 is November, an annual low point for the volume of international travellers.
Europe’s entry/exit system has been in development since before the Brexit referendum in 2016. The aim is to tighten controls at the external border of the Schengen Area – comprised of almost all European Union members plus additional states including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
Each time the traveller crosses a Schengen border, the system will register their fingerprints and a facial biometric, as well as the date and place of entry or exit.
The Electronic Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias), informally known as the “eurovisa,” is likely to follow about six months later.
Etias depends on EES being fully functional. Earlier this year the European Commission said the €7 (£6) permit would not be introduced before 2024.
Original article by Simon Calder, The Independent
