Since 10 April 2026, the Entry/Exit System (EES) has been fully operational at all external borders of the Schengen Area. Following the completion of the phased rollout that began in October 2025 (→eucrim 2/2025, 111), the entries and exits of third-country nationals on short stays are now digitally recorded across the EU. Travellers’ facial image, fingerprints and personal data from the travel document are also recorded. The previous manual passport stamping is no longer required.

According to a Commission press release of 30 March 2026, more than 45 million border crossings have already been recorded since the system’s launch. Over 24,000 people had been refused entry for different reasons.

The goal of the EES is to strengthen control of the EU’s external borders, systematically detect overstays, and combat document and identity fraud. In Romania, for instance, authorities recently discovered that an individual was attempting to travel using two different identities and had been denied entry on multiple previous occasions. Without the EES, this case would likely have gone undetected. The system is operated by the EU agency eu-LISA and also forms the technical basis for the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), which is scheduled to go live at the end of 2026.