‘Phased’ or ‘progressive’ start - what does it mean?

EES is being ‘phased in’– what does this refer to and which passengers will be affected first?

The European Union passed a new law to allow the new EES checks to begin in a ‘progressive’ way. 

This allowed for the scheme to start initially at some Schengen border points and not others and/or for only a certain percentage of passengers at a given border point to be checked.

 This plan was worked out after several postponements and amid concerns that some ports and airports reported not having had enough time to prepare and that long queues might form if everyone had to be registered immediately.

There were also concerns over the ability of the central IT systems to cope. If countries opted for this ‘phased-in’ (France is among those that did), it means EES can gradually increase operations so that only after six months will it apply fully at all border points for all relevant passengers. 

This is considered to help towards a ‘soft’ launch, especially if some countries or ports/airports/stations are ready before others. It will also allow time to ease any teething issues.

The start of the ‘phasing in’ (or full operation) was October 12, 2025, and most of France’s border crossing points started a gradual implementation from that date. 

The ‘progressive start’ regulation includes:

•  From day one EES checks must be done at at least one border crossing point in a country. After one month at least 10% of relevant crossings at that country’s borders should be logged.

• First 60 days: states may run EES without facial image/ fingerprint collection. 

• After three months: EES should be fully in place at half or more crossing points and for 35%+ of all relevant passengers. 

• Manual passport stamping will continue during the phasingin period and end afterwards as EES will track entries and exits and respect the 90/180 days rule. During ‘phasing in’, therefore, border guards will continue to check stamps and previous stays in the Schengen area will be accounted for. 

• States may fully or partially suspend operating EES at certain border crossings in exceptional circumstances (for instance when traffic intensity would lead to very high waiting times).

The European Commission took the lead on organising EES and strongly favoured the progressive start idea (as did the EU-Lisa agency that has been overseeing the work of setting up the IT systems). 

The European Parliament and Council followed suit. 

Each state was asked to work out a plan for how it would roll out the system during the first six months, and make regular reports to the commission and EU-Lisa.