Biometric Surveillance: EU States Agree on Mobile Passport
The EU Council has set its course for the planned regulation, according to which an app for the digital transmission of travel data and IDs is to be developed.
(Image: Robert Kneschke/Shutterstock.com)
EU member states agreed on their position for the planned regulation on digital travel documents on Wednesday. The decision allows the Council of Ministers to begin negotiations with the EU Parliament on the dossier. It aims to make border crossings at the external borders of the Schengen Area more efficient and secure. The regulation establishes rules for the voluntary creation of digital travel documents (Digital Travel Credentials) on smartphones, which contain a digital copy of the data stored in the chip of the passport or identity card.
The core function of the planned EU Travel App is for the Council, the option for travellers to transmit their data to the responsible authorities before arriving at the border. This will allow border officials to verify travel documents remotely and also to compare them with police and migration databases. This is intended to shorten waiting times, increase security, and make it more difficult for fraudsters to use fake documents.
The development of the central components – the mobile app, a backend validation service, and a "Traveller Router" for data transmission – will be transferred to the EU-Lisa agency, the ministerial body explains. This agency is responsible for managing large IT systems in the security sector. The use is explicitly optional for EU citizens or third-country nationals. The physical travel document must still be carried when crossing the border.
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According to the Council, the Travel App is designed as a central element for networking the comprehensive EU border systems. In the future, travellers will be able to use their digital travel documents to, for example, pre-submit their data for the Entry/Exit System (EES)), which was launched in October 2025, which digitally records biometric data of third-country nationals. Integration into the ETIAS travel authorization system, planned for 2026, as well as digital visa applications, is also envisaged.
Despite the promised travel facilitation, civil rights activists and data protectionists are urgently warning against the consequences of digitizing travel documents. They see it as an expansion of the biometric surveillance infrastructure at the EU level. The digital travel app initially provides for automated facial recognition for biometric identification, but it is likely to pave the way for comprehensive and automated collection and evaluation of biometric data. This would restrict freedom of travel in the long term.
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