November launch for new EU border rules would have been ‘carnage’, Lords told

The EU earlier this month confirmed the November start date for EES – the EU’s proposed new biometric border controls that were originally scheduled to take effect in 2022 – was being pushed back again, with no new start date given.

Dover Council leader Kevin Mills told the Lords’ Justice and Home Affairs Committee that the road network around the Port of Dover would not have been ready, while the iPads Dover plans to use to process travellers had not been delivered. He also revealed no live trials of EES had taken place.

"It would have been complete and utter carnage," he said.

Mills added there had been no discussions about parking facilities for queues that would build up in Dover as passengers underwent the biometric registration – pictures and fingerprints – needed for the new system.

“Without EES, we still see the town coming to a gridlock several times a year," he warned. "If you add this to it, it is gridlock on steroids."

‘No coherent plan’

Eurostar Group general secretary Gareth Williams said the rail operator had been ready for 10 November, but stressed the data it is required to collect could not yet be passed to the EU.

Channel Tunnel operator Getlink Group also said it had spent £70 million on technology and infrastructure and had recruited more staff. “All of that will have to be put into hibernation while we wait for the data,” said John Keefe, chief corporate and public affairs officer. “Inevitably, a cost like this is passed on to the consumer.”

He stressed no decision had yet been made on "when it will be introduced or how it will be introduced”, and added the group was considering legal action to recover some of its costs.

Keefe said no communication plan had been launched to inform the public about 10 November because of the delays to EES. “This, of course, should have been in place originally a couple of years ago," he continued.

"A coherent communication plan that could have built up over many months has not been possible because the date has always been in question.”

He added EES was designed for airports, with a well-lit environment, and said Eurotunnel staff had to perform checks with vehicle passengers. “We would like the capture of fingerprints to be done somewhere else,” he said, adding this meant “at home or en route” using smartphones.