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Schengen authorities face pressure to enforce digital checks consistently without allowing queues or flawed data to undermine travellers’ rights
A temporary measure allowing European border authorities to suspend biometric registration during severe congestion ends on 6 September. This change doesn’t initiate a new border regime: the EU Entry/Exit System has been fully operational since April. However, it reduces the options available when digital checks cause significant delays, highlighting national readiness, transparent contingency planning, and the treatment of travellers whose personal data enter the system.
What changes after 6 September
The Entry/Exit System (EES) electronically records the arrival, departure, and refusal of entry for most non-EU nationals traveling to participating European countries for short stays. It stores travel-document information, facial images, and fingerprints, replacing manual passport stamps and determining if a visitor has exceeded the permitted 90 days in any 180-day period.
The system began its rollout on 12 October 2025 and became fully operational across 29 European countries on 10 April 2026. EU citizens are not registered in EES, with exemptions for certain categories of non-EU nationals, including those with qualifying residence documents.
During the transition, the EU regulation governing the progressive rollout allowed national authorities to temporarily suspend biometric collection during excessive waiting times caused by exceptional traffic. This safeguard could be used for up to six hours at a specific crossing point during an initial 90-day period after full implementation. Since fewer than 80% of files created during the rollout contained biometric data, the regulation automatically extended that period by 60 days.
This additional window was available through 6 September. Its expiry means congestion alone will no longer provide the same temporary method for suspending biometric registration. Technical fallback procedures remain relevant during system failures, but authorities now have less discretion to relieve queues by omitting biometric data.
A common system with national pressure points
The institutional challenge is that EES is a common European database operated through national border infrastructure. Its credibility relies on numerous local interactions at airports, ferry terminals, railway stations, and land crossings.
While a traveller’s data may be stored centrally, national authorities are responsible for staffing booths, maintaining equipment, organizing queues, and explaining the process. Large airports can invest in self-service kiosks and separate registration lanes. Smaller crossings may have fewer officers, less space, and limited capacity during simultaneous arrivals of flights, ferries, or coaches.
Transport organizations and several participating states have sought more time to use the congestion safeguard, arguing that the summer travel season revealed unresolved operational weaknesses and that passenger volumes can overwhelm even functioning technology.
The European Commission has not announced a general extension. At its 1 September press briefing, it stated the system had functioned broadly well but acknowledged the need for adjustments at certain crossings in a few countries. It offered operational assistance, including the possible deployment of additional Frontex standing corps officers, while urging the concerned authorities to resolve remaining technical, organizational, and communication issues by year-end.
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