The EU’s long-awaited border digitalisation initiatives – EES and ETIAS – are meant to remove friction at the border. But businesses might face more difficulties than they bargained for.
Ben Sookia | 23 August 2024
10 November is the date that European travel is set to join the 21st Century. It’s also a date on which you should think carefully about your own travel plans.
That’s because it’s pencilled in as the day the EU’s much-delayed digital Entry-Exit System will finally go live. If all goes to plan (and that’s a big if), the age-old system of getting your passport stamped at border control will have reached its terminus.
In theory, this should spell relief for UK business travellers and holidaymakers alike. No more nerve-racking eyeings-up by stern border officials, right? Just a seamless glide through passport control to look forward to after a morning on the Eurostar?
Not really – or at least, not yet. In fact, the changes to the EU border might potentially store up a whole lot of pain for business travellers, particularly those who aren’t ready for them. Let’s dig in.
What is EES?
The Entry-Exist System scheme is an automated IT system that tracks travellers’ biometric data as they pass through the EU’s borders. As the name implies, it will monitor and record everyone entering and leaving the Schengen Area’s external borders.
Here’s how it works. The first time you encounter EES, you’ll get to the border and head to a kiosk, where you’ll provide biometric data in the form of a photo and a fingerprint scan. This will be stored in the system for three years.
The next time you pass through a Schengen Area border, you’ll simply scan your passport at a self-service kiosk. The system will then process that information through a vast software infrastructure and match it to your submitted biometric data. The green light pings, et voila, you pass through the gates and onto your destination.
EU home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson has touted EES as ‘the most modern digital border management system in the world’. But even after its delayed opening, the full system won’t be quite complete on 10 November.
That moment will only come when its sister system, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, or ETIAS, is launched.
What is ETIAS?
A European equivalent to the USA’s ESTA scheme, ETIAS will pre-screen travellers from the 61 non-EU countries (the UK and US included) whose citizens are permitted visa-free access to the Schengen free travel area.
A successful ETIAS application licences the holder the right, over three years, to travel for 90 days at a time within any 180-day period, at an administrative cost of €7.
ETIAS is meant to act as a new line of defence in the EU’s efforts to control its own borders against irregular migration, terrorism and transmissible disease. Though not a visa in its own right, it’s designed to guarantee that everyone who enters Europe is safe to do so.
Its implementation has been pushed back several times since it was first formally announced in 2018. The precise launch date remains uncertain, but is expected to be sometime in mid-2025.
How do ETIAS and EES Work Together?
The two systems are designed to be closely complementary. ETIAS will screen travellers before they arrive. EES will ensure that everyone entering has, firstly, been through that screening and, secondly, poses no risk to the European public.
ETIAS and EES use many of the same hardware and software components, allowing for frictionless information-sharing. If all goes to plan, this integrated security structure should protect Europe from risks to life and health.
After initial implementation, the system should also speed up travel times for visitors.
So What’s the Problem?
The caveat I just used – ‘after initial implementation’ – should provide the first clue of where businesses might chafe against the new systems.
Border chaos
On 10 November, vast numbers of travellers will arrive at Schengen border ports. Rather than proceeding to line up at the passport desk like they’re accustomed to, they’ll be ushered to a kiosk and told to scan their fingerprints and have their photos taken. Many passengers will come prepared for this, but many will be taken unawares.
Less technologically-savvy passengers may require assistance, while others may object to what they see as an invasion of their privacy.
The spectre of technological failures always haunts first-time implementations of new systems, and IT meltdowns are eminently possible. Even if it all goes off without a hitch, the stage is set for long queues of increasingly aggravated customers.
This is why we would recommend avoiding travel to the Schengen Area for at least the initial few days after the EES launch unless absolutely necessary. The previous UK foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, warned in May of long delays upon EES’s go-live date.
However, these hiccups may only be a fraction of what is to come when ETIAS is launched. While the EU has extensively publicised its plans for years, no information campaign has absolute reach. We have no doubt that thousands of travellers will arrive at border control and be refused entry because they have not applied for their ETIAS in advance. Hell hath no fury like a weary traveller scorned.
Business travel will almost certainly be affected, and meetings or conferences missed. Keep a watchful eye out for announcements of ETIAS’s definite launch date – it may be one to avoid.
Compliance violations
As you can read about in our new Schengen compliance guide, the EU has always taken its rules around allowance periods very seriously.
Those who overstay their allotted 90 days in any 180-day period are subject to fines of up to several thousand euros.
The consequences are even more stringent for violations of work permit timespans, falling upon both permit-holders and their employers. Employers who allow their employees to overstay their visas or visa-free periods risk fines. They may also have future visa applications for their employees denied. The worst offenders, those who knowingly allow their employees to violate the rules of their permits, may even face legal action.
The problem for European officials is that monitoring people’s movements is fairly difficult when relying on analogue technologies. As a method of border control, manual passport stamping is riddled with errors. This is a prime reason for the introduction of EES: creating a comprehensive database of who is entering Schengen, when they’re entering, and how long they are allowed to be there.
Many overstayers have surely got away with it in the past. But with EES imminent, there is no wiggle room left. Businesses that send people into the European Economic Area (EEA) must keep meticulous records of their workers’ movements. We expect to see UK and US businesses who conduct cross-border travel in Europe beefing up their compliance operations over the next few months.
Why ETIAS and EES Might Rip Up Your Flexible Working Policy
In the last few years, many companies have tried to make themselves more attractive to prospective hires by offering the perk of ‘working from anywhere’ – logging on remotely from an overseas location of their choosing.
Many employees from the UK and, to a lesser extent, the US are naturally drawn to Europe when choosing their ‘workation’ destinations. The EES/ETIAS system will make this much riskier for employers.
As a rule, most EEA countries don’t allow you to work remotely without a work permit. However, this is almost impossible to enforce; officials are highly unlikely to be monitoring what travellers are getting up to in their hotels or Airbnbs.
Many self-styled digital nomads will simply take advantage of the 90/180 day allowance, adopting a laissez-faire attitude to tracking the duration of their stays.
In fact, the popularity of doing this without telling one’s employer has given rise to a new colloquialism – taking a ‘hush trip’. After all, these employees rationalise, if their workplace has signalled a flexible approach, what’s the harm in indulging in a little overseas travel on the sly?
Well, a digitalised border will make it much easier to catch these workationers out if they overstay their welcome. When this happens, employers could easily end up in the crosshairs of EU compliance crackdowns.
The time is ripe for businesses to revisit their flexible working policies. You could be penalised if you don’t rigorously monitor your employees’ overseas movements and strongly disincentivise hush trips.
Get to Grips With Schengen Compliance
EES and ETIAS won’t change the fundamentals of the Schengen Area’s travel rules, but they will bring them into sharper focus.
Unsure of the basics of business travel in Schengen? Grab our free compliance guide now for a comprehensive rundown of how to move people in Europe without running into trouble.
