Estonia Implements New Automated Border Control Gates for Travellers

Tallinn Airport and Narva Road Border Crossing have implemented the Automated Border Control system (ABC gates), which will make the border crossing procedure easier and faster.

Head of the Border Guard Policy Department of the Ministry of Interior, Janek Mägi, said that the system would increase the capacity in the border crossing points and shorten the waiting time for all persons wishing to enter the country, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

“The number of passengers has constantly been growing year by year and is likely to continue the same trend even after the virus recedes, and life returns to normal. It is a good time to help border guards with machines that are fast, user-friendly, reliable, and reliable,” Mägi pointed out.

He also noted that the Automated Border Control system is also being used in Estonia’s neighboring countries such as Finland, Sweden, and Lithuania, adding that Estonian authorities feel glad that their citizens can cross the border faster thanks to the modern technological solution.

Deputy Director-General of the Police and Border Guard Board, Egert Belitchev, stressed that employees would continue to maintain frontier checks, despite the implementation of the ABC gates.

“Automatic border control gates provide the border guard with an additional tool for identifying a person and verifying the right of entry. Besides, the new system is also useful for passengers, as it allows a reliable passenger to cross the border without contact,” Belitsev said.

The Chairman of the Board of Tallinn Airport, Riivo Tuvikes, considers this an essential step on a faster and more appropriate passenger journey.

Tallinn Airport and Narva road border crossing points welcome a large number of persons each year. In 2020, over 1.5 million persons crossed the Estonian border, over 810,000 of them at Narva road border crossing point, and more than 210,000 individuals at Tallinn Airport.

Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board, together with the Information Technology and Development Center of the Ministry of the Interior announced that they plan to ask for additional funds in order to continue to maintain the gates. Besides, they plan to impose such a system at many other border crossing points.

The same system was previously launched at the International Airport of Riga, Latvia, in a bid to facilitate the border crossing procedures further.

The Automated Border Control Market is considered a productive way to help the countries deal with potential border problems.

At the same time, on June 26, Iceland’s Keflavik International Airport (KEF) introduced new kiosk-based border control that would register data such as entry and exit and other information for travelers upon their arrival at the airport. The system was imposed to tighten Iceland’s border controls and ease the movement.