The European Union has once again postponed the coming into force of the Entry/Exit System (EES), a new biometric system that was supposed to become effective in November this year.
As reported by the Independent, the electronic border scheme, which amongst others will replace passport stamping with digital registration of those that enter and leave the Schengen Area, will be postponed again, as the same is not ready yet.
“The Independent has learnt that the electronic border scheme will not now go ahead this year because the database on which it depends will not be ready in time,” the newspaper claims, noting that an official decision on a more precise date is expected to be taken in June.
It also claims that while the next date for the EES launch is believed to be May 2024, there are chances that it may happen later next year, after the summer Olympics that are set to be held in France between July 26 and August 11.
SchengenVisaInfo.com has contacted the eu-LISA, which is the agency responsible for managing the operation of large-scale IT systems in the EU, in the field of freedom, security, and justice, asking for a confirmation on the reporting, but has only received a promise that the agency “will soon reply” to our question.
It had previously been reported that the French government was planning to ask the EU to delay the functionalisation of the EES until the second half of next year, due to the Olympics.
A government source had told the Telegraph in mid-March that the authorities wanted to delay the introduction of EES in order to prevent long border lines at the crossings from the United Kingdom and chaos at French airports as a large number of non-EU nationals are expected to reach France for the event, which is one of the biggest organized in the country in the recent years.
The EES scheme has already been postponed once this year, after the same had been expected to become effective next week, on May 1, but was delayed to November.
Source SchengenVisaInfo.com
