Two proposals have been put forward by the European Commission. The purpose of these proposals is to make traveling easier for people entering and leaving the Schengen area.
These proposals would also be helpful for non-EU citizens. These plans were revealed by the EU Commission in a press release.
The Plans
The European Commission plans on introducing a common framework that involves the use of digital travel credentials.
It also talked about a new application that travelers will be able to use for storing their credentials. The Commission wants to speed up border controls and also make travel more secure and smoother.
Therefore, it believes that digitalizing identity cards and passports for anyone coming into or leaving the Schengen area is a good idea.
The suggested framework would be for digital travel credentials. It refers to the data that is collected on identity cards and passports, but will be its digital version.
While it would include the information regarding the chip of the ID card or passport, fingerprints will not be included.
The Impact
There would be several changes made under the new scheme, as anyone crossing the external borders of the EU will be checked. Not only does this include EU citizens, but also people from non-EU countries.
The purpose of the scheme is to enhance security, as using fake documents will become harder for people. Moreover, they would not be able to cross the Schengen border undetected.
Furthermore, the scheme would also be handy for enhancing the efficiency of border control and would speed up the border crossings’ process.
Most importantly, these thorough checks would also be helpful for the authorities at EU external borders to detect criminals and combat migrant smuggling.
As far as the benefit for travelers is concerned, the scheme will be great for EU citizens because they would have to deal with reduced administrative requirements.
They will be able to take advantage of their digital identity cards for registration and identification.
Border Checks
Other than this new scheme, another proposal has been put forward by the EU Commission. It is about the EU Digital Travel Application.
Travelers will be able to use it for creating their digital credentials and storing all essential information related to traveling.
Travelers will be able to use the application for storing their travel documents. To do that, they will upload images and then use the app for checking them.
The application will have the capability of verifying the document and ensuring that it matches the specific traveler.
With such an application in use, the waiting times at border crossings will be significantly reduced and verifying travelers will become more efficient.
But, the app needs to be developed, tested and then receive approval from the European Commission first. Until this happens, digital travel credentials will be issued by the Member States.
There have also been proposals aimed at improving the use of the Entry/Exit system that has been developed for non-EU nationals and will be launched in November.
