How does the EES system work?
- Fingerprinting upon first entry
- Taking photos of passengers' faces
- Automatic recognition on subsequent entries
- Recording of entries and exits from the EU
- Detection of false identities
45 million passengers registered in the system
According to the information provided Independent received from the Directorate-General for Home Affairs of the European Commission, so far 45 million passengers worldwide have been registered in the system.
As a reminder, the system includes taking a fingerprint and taking a facial photo, and after the data has been taken, each subsequent time only taking a photo will be sufficient.
Yesterday, Nezavisne contacted the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding how the system will be implemented at the Croatian border, but by the time this issue was published, we had not received a response.
Officers will ask passengers to exit their vehicles.
According to Croatian media, police officers will ask passengers to exit their vehicles during the check, which will extend the waiting time at the border to a period of two to five minutes per passenger.
However, as stated by the General Directorate, border services will have the discretion to temporarily suspend checks if large crowds occur, especially during the tourist season, which was a request from travel agencies.
Police officers will be able to suspend biometric checks
As highlighted, if queues at the border require waits longer than three hours, police officers will be able to suspend biometric checks and only perform traditional passport checks, as was the case before the introduction of the new system.
Temporary suspensions will be possible for another 90 days
In a press release from the Directorate-General, as well as at a briefing by Commission spokesperson Markus Lammert, it was confirmed that temporary suspensions will be possible for another 90 days after April 10, i.e. from the start of full application, and that an extension can then be granted for an additional 60 days.
This practically means that suspensions will be possible during the next summer tourist season, however, if the criterion is waiting at the border for more than three hours, the question arises as to how much this will actually shorten waiting times during peak season or during holidays, when many BiH citizens working in the EU move across the border.
In a statement, the General Directorate claims that the first phase of the system's implementation has shown all its good sides, which they claim have met all expectations.
"More than 24,000 people were rejected at the border for various reasons, such as inadequate justification for their visit and expired or falsified documents. The system also helped identify more than 600 people who posed a security risk to Europe. They were refused entry and are recorded in the system. As a result, if they try to enter another European country using this system, border authorities will be able to see that they have already been refused entry," they state.
The system is excellent at detecting fraud
They also claim that the system has proven to be excellent at detecting fraud, especially when it comes to false identities.
“At each border crossing, the fingerprints and facial photographs of the passengers are compared with the biometric data stored in the system. Schengen countries have reported several cases in which passengers were detected trying to cross the border using different identities. The most recent case was recorded in Romania, where border guards, by collecting biometric data, determined that the same person was using two different identities with two separate documents issued in different names. Further investigation revealed that the person had already been refused entry to the Schengen area three times by different Member States. Without biometric identification via the EES, this case of identity fraud would probably not have been detected,” they say.
The application of EES has also been felt by professional truck drivers
In addition to the fact that BiH citizens need to prepare for possible longer waits, the application of the EES has also been felt by professional truck drivers, who complain that officials are turning them back from European borders for exceeding the rule that one can stay in the Schengen area for 90 days every six months.
However, as an official of the European institutions recently told us unofficially, drivers are asked to describe their work routine, because, as he points out, the question arises whether the drivers only transport goods to and from BiH, or also perform transport services within the EU. As explained to us, this would require special documentation, given that in this case it is about performing activities within the EU.
