EU Member States: Decisions on temporary border controls

Submitted by Alina Danieles… on 25 March 2020

The Schengen Borders Code provides Member States with the capability of temporarily reintroducing border control at the internal borders in the event that a serious threat to public policy or internal security has been established.

The reintroduction of border control at the internal borders must remain an exception and must respect the principle of proportionality. The scope and duration of such a temporary reintroduction of border control at the internal borders is limited in time and should be restricted to the bare minimum needed to respond to the threat in question. Reintroducing border control at the internal border should only ever be used as a measure of last resort.

The reintroduction of border control is a prerogative of the Member States. The Commission may issue an opinion with regard to the necessity of the measure and its proportionality but cannot veto such a decision if it is taken by a Member State.

Please see here the Notifications of Current Temporarily Reintroduced Border Controls.

More information is also available in the press release IP/16/1723: Back to Schengen: Council adopts Commission proposal on next steps towards lifting of temporary internal border controls.

The news was published on ec.europa.eu wesbite here. © European Union, 1995-2020.

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