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Migration and Home Affairs

Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control

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

The reintroduction of border control at the internal borders must be applied as a last resort measure, in exceptional situations, and must respect the principle of proportionality.

The duration of such a temporary reintroduction of border control at the internal borders is limited in time, depending on the legal basis invoked by the Member State introducing such border control.

The scope and duration of reintroduced border control should be restricted to the bare minimum needed to respond to the threat in question. Reintroducing border control at the internal border should only 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 regarding the necessity of the measure and its proportionality but cannot veto a Member State’s decision to reintroduce border control.

Notifications of the Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control

Current Temporarily Reintroduced Border Controls

Country Duration Reasons/Scope
Germany 16/03/2024 - 15/06/2024 High level of migrant smuggling activity, the impact on security and migration in the Schengen area due to the security situation in the Middle East; land borders with Poland, Czechia and Switzerland.
Austria 17/02/2024 - 16/04/2024 High migratory pressure on the migration routes towards Central Europe, extensive secondary migration, increase in migrant smuggling along the illegal migration routes, security risk from terrorist threats via the smuggling routes, increased risk following the events in the Middle East; border with Czechia.
Austria 03/02/2024 - 02/04/2024 High migratory pressure and increase in apprehensions in the Western Balkans, extensive secondary migration, pressure on the asylum reception system, threat of human smuggling; border with Slovakia.
Italy 19/01/2024 - 18/06/2024 Increased threat of violence within the EU following the attack on Israel, risk of possible terrorist infiltration into irregular migration flows from the Balkan route; land border with Slovenia.
Slovenia 22/12/2023 - 21/06/2024 Threats to public order and internal security in the EU, the situation in the Middle East and in Ukraine, recent terrorist attacks in some Member States, increased security risks due to organised crime in the Western Balkans, including people smuggling, risk of infiltration in mixed migration flows; internal borders with the Republic of Croatia and Hungary.
Denmark 12/11/2023 - 11/05/2024 Significant threat to public policy and internal security by terrorists and organized crime, threat of espionage from foreign state intelligence, uncertainty in Europe due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increase in irregular migration; may extend to all internal borders (land, sea and air), with a focus on the Danish-German land border and Danish ports with ferry connection to Germany.
Norway 12/11/2023 - 11/05/2024 Threat to critical on-shore and off-shore infrastructures, foreign intelligence services threat in Norway; ports with ferry connections to the Schengen area.
Germany 12/11/2023 - 11/05/2024 Increase in irregular migration, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the security situation exacerbated by terrorist groups in the Middle East, strain on the asylum reception system, increase in human smuggling; the land border with Austria.
Austria 12/11/2023 - 11/05/2024 Pressure on the asylum reception system, high migratory pressure at the EU’s external border to Türkiye and the Western Balkans, threat of arms trafficking and criminal networks due to the war in Ukraine, human smuggling; borders with Slovenia and Hungary.
Sweden 12/11/2023 - 11/05/2024 Islamist terrorist threat, recent threats by terrorist organisations, statements by state actors, serious threat to public policy and internal security; all internal borders (exact borders to be determined).
France 01/11/2023 - 30/04/2024 New terrorist threats and external borders situation; internal borders.

Foreseeable cases (Article 25 and 26 of the codified SBC)

For foreseeable events (e.g. sports events), the duration of the border control is limited to 30 days or for the foreseeable duration of the threat, if it exceeds 30 days.

If required, the reintroduction of border control can be prolonged for renewable periods of up to 30 days. The total period shall not exceed 6 months.

The Member State shall notify the Commission and other Member States at least 4 weeks before the planned reintroduction of border control. An exception of this notification period is made, if the circumstances giving rise to reintroduced border control become known at a shorter notice.

Cases requiring immediate action (Article 28 of the codified SBC)

Where immediate action needs to be taken to adequately respond to a threat, a Member State may reintroduce border control for 10 days without prior notification.

The Commission and the Member States must be informed of such decisions immediately.

While the reintroduction can be prolonged for periods of up to 20 days, the overall period of border control shall not exceed 2 months.

Cases where exceptional circumstances put the overall functioning of the Schengen area at risk (Article 29 of the codified SBC)

In exceptional circumstances, where the overall functioning of the Schengen Area is put at risk as a result of persistent serious deficiencies relating to external border control, and insofar as those circumstances constitute a serious threat to public policy or internal security, the Council may, based on a proposal from the Commission, recommend that one or more Member States decide to reintroduce border control at all or at specific parts of their internal borders.

Such a recommendation shall only be made as a last resort and as a measure to protect the common interests within the Schengen Area, where all other measures, in particular those referred to in Article 21 of the Schengen Borders Code, are ineffective in mitigating the serious threat identified.

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