Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 establishing a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS)

What it is

to establish a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) in order to improve external border management. PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with Council. BACKGROUND: in its in its Communication of September 2016 entitled 'Enhancing security in a world of mobility ’, the Commission confirmed the need to strike the right balance between ensuring mobility and enhancing security, while facilitating legal entry into the Schengen area without the need for a visa . The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Kinga GÁL (EPP, HU) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and amending Regulations (EU) No 515/2014, (EU) 2016/399 and (EU) 2016/1624. The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows: Purpose and scope: ETIAS will allow for the possibility of assessing whether a third country national exempt from the requirement to be in possession of a visa when who intending to travel to the Schengen area poses an irregular migration risk, a threat to security or a high epidemic risk, before the person arrives at the external border at a border crossing point. For this purpose a travel authorisation and the conditions and procedures to issue or refuse it are introduced. For reasons of legal clarity, it is specified that only air and sea carriers have to fulfil the requirements of the regulation. Carriers transporting groups overland by coach should be excluded given the heavy burden that would be put on these carriers. In addition, a proposed new recital states that in order to avoid unnecessary costs, carriers should be able to connect to ETIAS, EES and similar systems via a unique entry point. ETIAS Central Unit: this will also be in charge of, inter alia: (i) defining and revising the specific risk indicators; (ii) recording the checks in the ETIAS Central System; (iii) indicating the Member State responsible for the manual processing of applications; (iv) notifying carriers as well as Member States’ authorities competent for carrying out border checks at external border crossing points in case of a failure of the ETIAS Information System; (v) processing requests for consultation of data in the ETIAS Central System by Europol; (vi) providing the general public with all relevant information in relation to the application for a travel authorisation; (vii) acting as a helpdesk providing support to travellers in case of problems encountered during the application process. The ETIAS Central Unit shall publish an annual activity report to be submitted to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. Central access points : Members proposed that Member States put in place specific central access points which verify whether the conditions for access by law enforcement…

Frequently asked