Brexit: Dover port chief calls for transition period ahead of new EU border checks
The chief executive of the Port of Dover has called for a transition period to avoid significant disruption next year when the EU’s new border control system starts.
The new system, known as the Entry Exit Scheme (EES), is set to be introduced next autumn after delays pushed it back from 2022. It will require non-EU citizens to register additional biometric data on top of their passport.
Speaking exclusively to Morning Wire Doug Bannister, said there would be a “surge of people” needing to register their details for the new system when it launches, potentially fuelling delays and disruption.
Bannister said there were “a number of outstanding questions that we still need answers to” regarding the EES, including “whether there’s going to be any sort of transitionary period and what that transition looks like.”
As of now, the EU’s new regime will require two sets of biometric data, fingerprints and facial recognition, alongside a passport.
Bannister has previously said that the new system could fuel delays, with the port already marred by significant disruption in recent years amid additional Brexit-related bureaucracy.
The port chief suggested that a transition period could mean only requiring one set of data, for example facial recognition, which could be done at home and with less risk of compromising border security.
The government is currently in negotiations with the Port and the EU to determine how the long-delayed EES will work when it is finally introduced.
“We are working through a lot of different things to get to a point where we’ve got a plan that we can implement by the end of the year,” Bannister said.
But he warned that if some of “these decisions aren’t being made in the run up to the end of he year, then that’s going to have a knock on impact in our ability to respond to those regulatory changes,” with inevitable consequences for the vast range of traffic which passes through the hub.
Yesterday, the BBC reported that the port was planning to build out into the sea to manage delays when the biometric border control system begins.
Despite the challenges, Bannister said he was “pretty confident” Dover would be able to handle the new system, which he described as the “last hurdle” following years of Brexit-related negotiations.
“I can’t be 100 per cent confident, but I’m feeling more relaxed now than I was this time last year.”