In spite of not being a Schengen Member State yet, Romania is ready for the implementation of the Entry/Exit System, ahead of many Schengen countries.
According to Romania’s General Inspectorate of the Border Police, preparations for the EES are well advanced in the country, in several areas.
In an exchange of emails, the General Inspectorate has confirmed that aside from establishing the organizational framework for the national implementation of EES and ETIAS, the country has also set out the competent and designated authorities and their responsibilities.
In addition, it has established two new structures called the Central Access Points and the ETIAS National Unit, which will be responsible for the processing of personal data, security, appeal procedures and others.
“Funding contracts have been signed under which public procurement procedures have been carried out for the development of the IT&C infrastructure, including the equipping of BCPs with EES control equipment, the adaptation of the IT system of the Romanian Border Police and General Inspectorate for Immigration to EES requirements, and the purchase of an IT solution that will serve the law enforcement component by ensuring the exchange of information between the Central Access Points and the designated authorities,” the General Inspectorate has said in its response.
It also pointed out that under the procurement contract that has been signed, the installation of EES border control equipment at border crossing points has started last year, and so far the deployment activities of the fixed equipment in the BCPs have been completed in all locations, and most of the fixed devices have been installed so far.
At this point, Romania claims that all of its competent authorities are ready to run the official tests with the central system, but it depends on the developments at the eu-LISA level, when such a thing will be possible to happen.
In addition, the country has fully trained most of its border guards that will be involved in both systems through the national training schools, e-learning platforms and FRONTEX online training modules.
And lastly, but no less important, an information campaign on the importance of EES has been launched, which, aside from the information published on the official website of the border police for the general public, also includes the distribution of posters and leaflets on the systems, and the placing of posters at border crossing points.
SchengenVisaInfo.com has contacted all Schengen and EU Member States regarding the implementation of the EES, and only a share of them have disclosed their progress, without delving into specifics.
While the majority of them claim they’ll be ready to implement the EES, once the eu-Lisa is also ready to implement the system at EU level, Spain claims that its external border checkpoints will be ready with all the required equipment for the implementation of the EES.
“Spain’s plan is for the system to be completed and all equipment deployed between the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024,” the Spanish Ministry of the Interior claims.
The Entry/Exit System has been created by the EU in an attempt to make its territory safer by controlling who enters and who leaves. Among others, the system will gather t and check biometric data – fingerprints and facial images – of all travellers at its external borders.
