Regulation 2024/1356 - Screening of third-country nationals at the external borders - Main contents

Official Journal

of the European Union

EN

L series

2024/1356

22.5.2024

The Schengen area was created to achieve an area without internal borders in which the free movement of persons is ensured, as set out in Article 3(2) of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The good functioning of that area relies on mutual trust between the Member States and efficient management of the external border.

The rules governing border control of persons crossing the external borders of the Member States of the Union are laid down in Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). Despite the border surveillance measures that are applied, Member States could be faced with unauthorised border crossings by third-country nationals avoiding border checks. To further develop the Union’s policy with a view to carrying out checks on persons and efficiently monitoring the crossing of external borders referred to in Article 77(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), additional measures should address situations where third-country nationals are apprehended in connection with an unauthorised crossing of the external borders, where third-country nationals are disembarked following search and rescue operations, and where third-country nationals make an application for international protection at a border crossing point without fulfilling entry conditions. This Regulation complements Regulation (EU) 2016/399 with regard to those situations. It is essential to ensure that, in those situations, third-country nationals are screened, in order to facilitate a proper identification and to allow for them to be referred efficiently to the appropriate procedures which, depending on the circumstances, might be the procedure for international protection or procedures respecting Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (5). The screening of such third-country nationals should seamlessly complement the checks carried out at the external border or compensate for the fact that those checks have not taken place when crossing the external border.

Border control is in the interest not only of the Member States at whose external borders it is carried out but of all Member States that have abolished internal border control. Border control should help to reduce illegal migration, to combat the smuggling and trafficking of human beings, and to prevent any threat to the Member States’ internal security, public policy, public health and international relations. When carrying out border control, Member States are to act in compliance with relevant Union and international law, including the Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, as amended by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967, with obligations related to international protection, in particular the principle of non-refoulement, and with fundamental rights. As such, measures taken at the external borders are important elements of a comprehensive approach to migration, allowing...