The European Parliament has given its final green light to the phased rollout of a new automated border check system for non-EU nationals, replacing traditional passport stamps with digital records, on Tuesday, July 8.
The system, known as the Entry/Exit System (EES), will register visitors’ dates of entry and exit, as well as track overstays and refused entries within the bloc’s Schengen free movement area. In addition to passport data, the system will collect biometric information, including facial images and fingerprints, at border checkpoints such as airports, seaports, and land crossings.
“The aim is to improve security, speed up the border check process, and reduce queues,” the European Parliament stated following the vote.
The EES, first agreed upon in 2017, was initially scheduled to launch in November last year. However, its rollout was postponed after several EU member states reported they were not ready to implement the system.
Under the approved plan, the EES will be gradually introduced over a six-month period. The European Commission will set the official start date once the law is formally adopted and comes into force.
