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(1) 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.

(2) 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 . 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 . 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.

(3) 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 Member States to address the challenge of mixed arrivals of irregular migrants and persons in need of international protection.

(4) According to Regulation (EU) 2016/399, border control consists of border checks carried out at the border crossing points and border surveillance, which is carried out between the border crossing points, in order to prevent third-country nationals from border crossing not authorised under that Regulation or from circumventing border checks. Pursuant to the provisions on border surveillance in Regulation (EU) 2016/399, a person who has crossed a border in an unauthorised manner and who has no right to stay on the territory of the Member State concerned is to be apprehended and made subject to procedures respecting Directive 2008/115/EC. Pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/399, border control is to be carried out without prejudice to the rights of refugees and persons requesting international protection, in particular as regards non-refoulement.

(5) Border guards are often faced with third-country nationals who are requesting international protection without travel documents, both following apprehension during border surveillance and during checks at the border crossing points. Moreover, at some border sections border guards are faced with large numbers of arrivals at the same time. In such circumstances, it is particularly difficult and important to ensure that all relevant databases are consulted and to determine the appropriate procedure as quickly as possible.

(6) In particular, the screening of third-country nationals should contribute to ensuring that they are referred to the appropriate procedures at the earliest stage possible and that those procedures are continued without interruption or delay. At the same time, the screening should help to counter the practice whereby some applicants for international protection abscond after having been authorised to enter the territory of a Member State based on their request for international protection, in order to pursue such requests in another Member State or not at all.

(7) The screening of third-country nationals who apply for international protection, should be followed by an examination of the need for international protection. It should enable the collection and sharing with the authorities competent for that examination of any information that is relevant for the latter to identify the appropriate procedure for the examination of the application without prejudging the type of procedure, thus speeding up that examination. The screening should also contribute to identifying vulnerable persons so that any special needs are fully taken into account in the determination of and the pursuit of the applicable procedure.

(8) The obligations on Member States stemming from this Regulation should be without prejudice to Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 of the European Parliament and of the Council .

(9) This Regulation should apply to third-country nationals and stateless persons regardless of whether they have made an application for international protection who are apprehended in connection with an unauthorised crossing of the external border of a Member State by land, sea or air, except third-country nationals for whom the Member State concerned is not required to take the biometric data pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2024/1358 of the European Parliament and of the Council for reasons other than their age, as well as to those third-country nationals who have been disembarked following search and rescue operations, and do not fulfil the entry conditions set out in Regulation (EU) 2016/399. For those third-country nationals who have been disembarked following search and rescue operations, the application of this Regulation should be without prejudice to the obligations of Member States according to international law regarding search and rescue operations. This Regulation should also apply to those persons who seek international protection at the border crossing points or in transit zones without fulfilling the entry conditions or where third-country nationals, after having been authorised to enter pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/399 on humanitarian grounds, on grounds of national interest or because of international obligations, make an application for international protection.

(10) The screening should be conducted at any adequate and appropriate location designated by each Member State, generally situated at or in proximity to the external border or, alternatively, in other locations within the territory, taking into account geography and existing infrastructures, ensuring that the screening can be carried out without delay. The screening of third-country nationals illegally staying within Member States’ territory who have crossed an external border to enter the territory of the Member States in an unauthorised manner and who have not been already subjected to the screening in a Member State, should be conducted at any adequate and appropriate location designated by each Member State within its territory.

(11) Third-country nationals subject to the screening should remain available to the screening authorities during the screening. Member States should lay down in their national law provisions to ensure the presence of those third-country nationals during the screening in order to prevent absconding. Where it proves necessary and on the basis of an individual assessment of each case, Member States may detain a person subject to the screening, if other less coercive alternative measures cannot be applied effectively. Detention should only be applied as a measure of last resort in accordance with the principles of necessity and proportionality and should be subject to an effective remedy, in line with national, Union and international law. The relevant provisions of Directive (EU) 2024/1346 of the European Parliament and of the Council , for applicants for international protection, and the relevant rules on detention set out in Directive 2008/115/EC, for third-country nationals who have not made an application for international protection, should apply during the screening.

(12) Wherever it becomes clear during the screening that a third-country national subject to such screening fulfils the entry conditions for third-country nationals laid down in Regulation (EU) 2016/399, the screening should end and the third-country national concerned should be authorised to enter the territory, without prejudice to the application of penalties for the unauthorised crossing of external borders at places other than border crossing points or at times other than the fixed opening hours as referred to in that Regulation.

(13) In view of the purpose of the derogations from the entry conditions for third-country nationals established by Regulation (EU) 2016/399, persons whose entry has been authorised by a Member State in accordance with such derogations under that Regulation in an individual decision should not be subjected to the screening even if they do not fulfil all entry conditions, unless they make an application for international protection.