The same passengers will be required to pass in front of a border official’s booth to ensure they are the person on the passport.
Tests suggest it could add two minutes to the process of passing through border checkpoints whether travelling by ferry or plane to France.
More travellers may be driven to go by plane because of delays likely to be encountered on the train, the report suggests.
“Even though the average check time has increased since Brexit for Eurostar, doubling or even tripling waiting time could drive some travellers to opt for a plane,” it said.
‘Getting into EU needs to be seamless’
Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: “Getting into Europe needs to be more seamless, not more cumbersome.
“The processing of passengers whether at our ferry ports, at St Pancras or on arrival at a European airport, will have to be much faster otherwise peak periods will become unbearable for those stuck in ever-longer queues.”
Once travellers’ biometric data is entered into EES it will be stored for three years and subsequent border crossings should be faster. After three years, the data is needed again.
“Smart borders” to fight irregular migration were proposed by the EU in 2015, and EES was formally adopted by the Commission in April 2016.
However, delays mean that it is unlikely to come into effect before 2025, after the Paris Olympics next year.
