While airlines and tourism bodies continue to lobby European countries over easing the new EES entry/exit system for non-EU residents, in particular British tourists and travellers, there appears to be a legal question hanging over the new border control system.
German opposition MPs have stepped up their criticism of the European Union’s new Entry/Exit System. In Berlin, Clara Buenger, the Die Linke Left Party’s spokesperson on home affairs, stated that the mandatory collection of fingerprints and facial images from every non-EU traveller turns “law-abiding tourists and executives alike into suspects” and risks the retention of highly sensitive data for years.
According to @ VisaHQ, data protection experts are also questioning the legal basis for storing biometric data for three years (or five in the case of extended stays). The Federal Data Protection Commissioner told the Bundestag’s digital affairs committee that the regulation “borded on the limits of proportionality” and called for an independent audit on algorithmic bias, following tests that showed higher false rejection rates among travellers with darker skin tones.
“The EU is merging massive databases without oversight and undermining the constitutional restrictions on data use,” Buenger told Anadolu news agency. The former human rights lawyer and activist argues that law-abiding travellers are subjected to mass surveillance and that the line between migration and criminal prosecution is being blurred.
Furthermore, wait times a the borders have increased by up to 70 per cent because of the EES, creating up to three hour queues in some airports during peak travel periods, according to Airports Council International Europe. Travellers usually give themselves a couple of hours to make their way through the airport, but Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of travel business network Advantage Travel Partnership, previously urged holidaymakers to leave at least four hours spare.