I want to update the House on the work by the UK Government to maintain border fluidity with the European Union throughout the implementation of the new Entry/Exit System, ensuring UK nationals and residents can continue to access European destinations effectively and efficiently.
The European Union is implementing a new border security system, the European Entry/Exit System (EES). EU member states are responsible for implementation of the system at Schengen area border crossings, with oversight from the European Commission.
EES will remove the requirement to manually stamp passports at the EU’s external border—so called “wet-ink stamps”—and improve physical security by creating a digital file that links a travel document to a person’s identity using biometrics. It will require non-EU citizens, excluding EU residents, long stay visa holders, and those protected by the withdrawal agreement, arriving in a Schengen destination to register their fingerprints, provide a facial scan and answer questions about their stay. On departure, travellers’ details will be checked against the EES database to confirm compliance with existing rules on time limits, maximum 90 day stay in a 180-day period, and register departure.
While the UK Government are supportive of the aims of EES, which complement our shared objectives on migration and secure borders, we are not content with the level of preparations put in place by the previous Administration. The system will increase processing times at Schengen area border crossing points, and insufficient progress has been made on ensuring that these impacts, as well as other potential impacts, are minimised, with disruption likely when the scheme is introduced.
This is particularly true for journeys involving travel through the UK’s three ports with juxtaposed frontier controls: London St Pancras, Eurotunnel in Folkestone, and the Port of Dover, where EES registration will be required on departure from the UK.
On those routes, work has been required to accommodate new equipment and infrastructure in ports and terminals in the UK ahead of the launch date, as well as minimising any disruption caused by queues at the border as much as possible.
As the European Commission plans to implement the new system in late autumn this year, I wanted to update the House on the immediate steps that we are now taking to improve preparations and levels of readiness. These include:
Close working with the French Government, Port of Dover, Eurotunnel, Eurostar and High Speed 1 on implementation plans at Dover, Folkestone and St Pancras, where France conducts frontier controls prior to departure from the UK.
Preparing communications to raise awareness amongst the travelling public, especially UK nationals and third country nationals resident in the UK, who will be required to undertake EES registration when travelling to the EU. It is critical British citizens are aware of the new requirements and prepared for the additional time these will take with sufficient time to plan ahead.
Engaging with the European Commission and member states to lobby for a more pragmatic approach to the application of precautionary measures—these are reactive measures proposed by the EU for the first six months of EES implementation to be used as a safeguard in the case of excessive waiting times e.g. collecting the biometric data of a reduced number of travellers. We believe that extending these beyond six months would improve throughput at the EU’s external border if queues form during peak periods in early 2025 due to the additional processing time required for EES.
The introduction of an amendment to UK legislation to ensure that an additional French control zone within the Port of Dover’s Western Docks can be operationalised by French border officers in the same way as they currently work in the Eastern Docks and create additional capacity. This has been laid before the House today and there will be an opportunity for further discussion on its contents separately.
Securing access to European Commission trial and testing programs for EES implementation to help inform the work and planning UK juxtaposed port operators are doing to prepare for EES.
It is in both the UK’s and European Union’s interest to work together on our shared objectives to ensure we maintain secure borders, while also minimising any disruption caused by EES.
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