Belgium among nine EU states granted informal reprieve on biometric Entry/Exit System rollout

The European Commission has quietly accepted requests from nine Schengen members—including Belgium—to delay the full enforcement of the European Union’s Entry/Exit System (EES), Greek daily Kathimerini reported on Monday evening. The digital border regime, which captures fingerprints and facial scans of all non-EU travellers, officially entered a ‘mandatory’ phase on 6 September after a summer transition period. But France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Malta and Switzerland warned that airports and seaports were not yet technologically ready and that queues could spiral into hours. Under the informal deal, those countries may continue to suspend or scale back biometric checks at peak times until further notice, provided they keep Brussels informed of progress. Belgium’s Interior Ministry told local media it intends to finish integrating new self-service kiosks at Brussels Airport by mid-November but needs extra time to stress-test servers and train border police. Airlines and corporate-travel managers have welcomed the breathing space. IATA estimates that a full EES switch-on this month would have doubled processing times for long-haul passengers, forcing carriers to pad schedules and potentially miss slot windows. Travel-risk consultancies, however, caution that the uncertainty complicates autumn travel planning: companies must now track which Schengen frontiers apply fingerprinting and which rely on passport stamps. The postponement also buys time for data-protection audits. Belgium’s Data Protection Authority said it is still reviewing how long EES biometrics will be stored and whether passengers can access or rectify their records—issues with liability implications for employers that process staff travel data. Brussels Airport, meanwhile, is using the reprieve to expand automated gates to 72 units, aiming to segregate business-class flows and reduce queuing for premium passengers. Although the Commission declined public comment, officials stress the delay will be short. Industry insiders expect a new hard deadline tied to the planned launch of the ETIAS travel-authorisation scheme in early 2027. For now, travellers to Belgium may encounter a patchwork of procedures: standard passport stamping at Zaventem, biometric capture at Luxembourg, and spot checks on Eurostar services.