Will this time be the charm, allowing the EU to start its automated Entry/Exit System starting in October?
Subject to approval by the European Parliament, that’s the goal set Wednesday at a meeting of the member states of the EU. The plan set at the agreement sets concrete steps for a phased start to the plan.
The EES is intended to end passport stamps and manual border checks, saving money and providing accurate information on who has entered the zone and how long they’ve stayed. It was originally intended to take effect in 2017, but political, technical and other issues have repeatedly delayed it, along with fears of huge backups at entry points when new arrivals will need to have their biometric information recorded on their first visit.
This week’s plan specifies that once started, it should be operating at at least half of all border crossing points, and reach full implementation by six months. The other major travel change in the pipeline, also long-delayed, is ETIAS, an electronic visa-waiver system. The current plan is for it to take effect six months after EES starts.
