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(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.

(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.

(14) All third-country nationals subject to the screening should be submitted to checks, in order to identify or verify their identity and to verify whether they might pose a threat to internal security or public health. In the case of persons making an application for international protection at border crossing points, the identity and security checks carried out in the context of border checks should be taken into account to avoid duplication of checks.

(15) On completion of the screening, the third-country nationals concerned should either be referred to the authorities competent for registering the application for international protection or be made subject to procedures respecting Directive 2008/115/EC, as appropriate. The relevant information obtained during the screening should be provided to the competent authorities to support the further assessment of each individual case, in full respect of fundamental rights. Where necessary, the checks established by this Regulation should be continued by the respective competent authorities within the ensuing procedure. The procedures established by Directive 2008/115/EC should start to apply only after the screening has ended. The provisions on the registration of applications for international protection of Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 of the European Parliament and of the Council should apply only after the screening has ended. That should be without prejudice to the fact that the persons applying for international protection at the moment of apprehension, in the course of border control at the border crossing point or during the screening, should be considered applicants for international protection and Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 and Directive (EU) 2024/1346 should apply to them.

(16) Persons applying for international protection to whom Member States are not able to apply or are no longer able to apply an asylum border procedure in accordance with the provision on the exceptions to the asylum border procedure in Regulation (EU) 2024/1348 should, as a rule, be authorised to enter the territory.

(17) The screening could also be followed by relocation under the mechanism for solidarity established by Regulation (EU) 2024/1351 or another existing solidarity mechanism.

(18) In accordance with the presumption as regards fulfilment of conditions of duration of stay laid down in Regulation (EU) 2016/399, the fulfilment of entry conditions and the authorisation of entry are expressed in an entry stamp in a travel document. The absence of such entry stamp or the absence of a travel document might therefore be considered as an indication that the holder does not fulfil the entry conditions. With the start of the operation of the Entry/Exit System established by Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 of the European Parliament and of the Council (EES) leading to substitution of the stamps with an entry in the EES, that presumption will become more reliable. Member States should therefore carry out the screening of third-country nationals who are already within their territory and who are unable to prove that they fulfilled the conditions of entry into the territory of the Member States. The screening of such third-country nationals is necessary in order to compensate for the fact that they presumably managed to evade entry checks upon arrival in the Schengen area and therefore could have not been either refused entry or referred to the appropriate procedure following the screening. Carrying out the screening could also help in ascertaining, through the consultation of the databases referred to in this Regulation, that the persons concerned do not pose a threat to internal security. By the end of the screening within the territory, the third-country nationals concerned should be subject to a return procedure or, where they apply for international protection, to the appropriate asylum procedure. Third-country nationals should not be subjected to repeated screenings.