Reinforcement of the boarders' checks

 

Reinforcement of checks at the external borders of the Schengen area

 

Following the attacks in France and other European countries in recent months, and the persistence of a terrorist threat, it is necessary to strengthen controls at the external borders.

 

For this reason, the Schengen Borders Code has been amended to ensure that all travellers entering and leaving the Schengen area are subject to systematic and thorough border control.

New article 8-2 of the Schengen Borders Code has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union on March 27th 2017 and will enter into force on April 7th 2017.

More concretely, starting from April 7th 2017, all travellers, be they citizens of the European Union or nationals of third countries, will be subjected to systematic checks, before they enter or leave the Schengen area (air, maritime and land borders). Previously, EU citizens were subjected to minimum checks.

 

Customs will now check:

 

1) The authenticity of the passport or travel document, to prevent any attempt at impersonation or document forgery;

2) National, European and international databases to ensure that any person crossing the border is not the subject of an alert in the Schengen information System.

 

Customs, in charge of border controls, are fully committed to carry out these controls within the framework of the new Schengen borders Code, as well as to limit the impact on the ease of border crossing.

 

Further information here >>