France has secured yet another reprieve from Brussels on the full enforcement of the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES). The European Commission has informally agreed to let nine Schengen states – including France – delay compulsory fingerprinting and facial-image capture for third-country travellers that was supposed to be in force everywhere since 6 September. Holiday hubs such as Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, Orly and the Port of Dover French controls will therefore continue operating under a ‘grace period’ while technical upgrades are completed. For French border authorities the pause is vital. Over the summer, test phases revealed that many regional airports have neither space nor staffing for the new biometric kiosks. Industry groups including IATA and Eurostar warned of “queue chaos” after dozens of passengers missed onward connections when pilots of the system were switched on briefly in Spain and Italy; French officials want to avoid similar headlines as the autumn conference season begins. Under the deal, France must still register arrivals’ passport data in the EES database but may postpone the mandatory fingerprint element. Sources in Paris say the interior ministry will now target April 2027 for full compliance, giving airport operator Groupe ADP and the French Police aux Frontières six more months to install 600 additional biometric booths and to train 2,000 officers. The extension also buys time to refine the ‘France Identité Voyage’ mobile-ID pilot that would allow pre-registration from passengers’ smartphones. For business travellers the decision removes immediate uncertainty. Carriers and corporates can continue to advise staff to use existing e-gates or manual desks without extra fingerprint steps this autumn, though compliance will be re-evaluated quarterly. Companies should nevertheless budget for longer dwell times in 2027 and update travel policies to capture biometric-privacy consent once full roll-out resumes. Longer-term, the partial delay underscores how uneven digital border modernisation remains across Europe. While Spain is already fully live and Germany has pledged to meet all milestones by December, France’s cautious approach reflects concern that security upgrades must not jeopardise its status as the world’s most-visited country.
Source: The Guardian
