eu-LISA

eu-LISA is implementing two new programs - European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) and the Entry/Exit System (EES)

eu-LISA's mission is "continuously supporting Member States effort through technology for a safer Europe." 1

As such, eu-LISA is implementing two new programs - European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) and the Entry/Exit System (EES).

The World Fuel Trip Support team has compiled information on how to navigate these regulatory updates, and is available for consultation. If you have any questions, contact World Fuel Trip Support at [email protected].

ETIAS

The European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) is a "…pre-travel authorization system for visa-exempt travelers." 2

Starting in 2023, travelers from 60 visa-exempt countries will be required to have a travel authorization to enter European countries for a short stay. The purpose of ETIAS is to verify if "…a third-country national meets entry requirement before traveling to the Schengen area." 2

EES

The second program is the Entry/Exit System (EES), which electronically collects traveler's information, including the time and place of entry and exit of the Schengen area. It will replace the entry and exit border authority stamping of the passport. The purpose of the EES system is "…improving the management of the external borders, and in particular, to verify compliance with the provisions on the authorized period of stay…" 3 in the Schengen area.

Next Steps for Aircraft Operators

This new program is still a fluid situation, and all parties involved are still trying to understand the complete requirements. World Fuel Services is available for consultation regarding the eu-LISA program and happy to assist its customers.

Therefore, Aircraft operators should take the following steps:

  • Register for eu-LISAs Working Group for Carriers:
    • Registration is required in order to query eu-LISA’s system to secure traveler status who fall within EES and ETIAS.

Steps 1 & 2: Who is Ordering the Query and the Websites

  1. Identify a person within the Aircraft operator who will be the designated Single Point of Contact (SPOC).
  2. SPOC shall go to the following website:

Step 3: Fill in the F01

Fill in the F01: Carrier Registration Form electronically within the Word document.

  • Do not print and scan the document. Complete document within the Word format.
  • Steps to complete the document
    • CARRIER LEGAL NAME
      • Enter the legal entity of the Air Carrier
    • CARRIER EMAIL ADDRESS
      • General/Main email address to the Air Carrier. 
      • Should be a good alternative email address incase the SPOC cannot be contacted by eu-LISA.
    • CARRIER TELEPHONE NUMBER
      • General/Main telephone number to the Air Carrier
      • Should be a good alternative telephone number in case the SPOC cannot be contacted by eu-LISA.
    • CARRIER POSTAL ADDRESS
      • Postal address of the Air Carrier for standard communications.
    • CARRIER COMMERCIAL NAME
      • Optional field
      • If conducting business under a different name from the legal entity, input name in this field.
    • COUNTRY
      • Country in which the air carrier is incorporated.
    • INDUSTRY
      • Air Carriers are to select AIR.
    • INDUSTRY TAG
      • Optional Field
        • If Operator has selected the System-To-System connection, it is REQUIRED to complete this section.
      • For Air Carriers, please use IATA code (if applicable), if not use ICAO code, if not the Carrier Submission ID will be used by default.
    • OFFICIAL CARRIER ENTITY
      • Optional Field
      • Air Carrier name as it applies to the IATA and/or ICAO Airline Code.
    • DELCARATIONS
      • Select the checkboxes for all declaration that apply to your Air Carrier.
    • LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE CONTACT DETAILS
      • It is mandatory to include the information of a specific person who has the authority to represent the company from a Legal perspective
    • NAME
    • SURNAME
    • POSITION
    • POSTAL ADDRESS
    • EMAIL
      • Can be an individual’s or departmental email address.
    • PHONE
    • MOBILE PHONE
      • It is important to include the mobile phone number of each individual, as this is the method in which eu-LISA will provide as person their encryption codes.
    • TIME ZONE
      • Time zone difference of the person listed in UTC.
    • FUNCTIONAL EMAIL ADDRESS
      This can be a generic company email address, departmental email address (i.e. Legal Communications) or an individual email address.
    • CONTACT POINT DETAILS (SPOC)
      • It is mandatory to identify an Air Carrier employed SPOC.
      • This person will serve as the primary person to communicate with eu-LISA and make any account modifications as necessary
      • NAME
      • SURNAME
      • POSITION
      • POSTAL ADDRESS
      • PHONE
      • TIME ZONE
        • Time zone difference of the person listed in UTC.
      • MOBILE PHONE
        • it is important to include the mobile phone number of each individual, as this is the method in which eu-LISA will provide as person their encryption codes.
      • EMAIL
        • Can be an individual’s or departmental email address.
    • INSTRUMENTS OF COMPANY CONSTITUTION INCLUDING STATUES
      • Recommend the Air Carrier’s Articles of Incorporation or Business Registration.
      • FILE NAME
      • DOCUMENT LANGUAGE
    • REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS
      • Only one of these documents is required.  For an Air Carrier, it is recommended to provide the second choice of the AOC from your local Civil Aviation Authority.
      • COMPANY BUSINESS REGISTRATION FROM EITHER AT LEAST ONE MEMBER STATE, WHERE APPLICABLE, OR FROM A THIRD COUNTRY
      • FILE NAME
      • DOCUMENT LANGUAGE
      • MEMBER STATE or THRID COUNTRY THAT ISSUES THE OFFICIAL COMPANY REGISTRATION
      • REGISTRATION NUMBER
      • AUTHORIZATION TO OPERATE IN ONE OR MORE MEMBER STATES, SUCH AS FOR EXAMPLE AN AIR OPERATOR CERTIFICATE
      • FILE NAME
      • DOCUMENT LANGUAGE
    • EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES ND SCHENGEN ASSOCIATED COUNTRIES APPLING ETIAS OR OPERATING THE EES WHERE CARRIER INTENDS TO OPERATE
      • For Third Country Air Carrier, select all the Member States in which the Air Carrier plans to operate.
    • CARRIER CHOICE FOR DATA EXCHANGE CHANNELS
      • COMMENTS
        • Optional Field
      • Air Carrier shall select at least one channel in which it would like to access eu-LISA’s portal for future need of checking passengers in accordance with the ETIAS and EES programs.
        • Choices are:
          • System-to-System integration
          • Mobile Application
            • Android
            • iOS
            • Other
          • Web Browser
            • Chrome
            • Edge
            • Firefox
            • Safari
            • Other

Step 4: SPOC

The SPOC then sends the completed Word document via email to eu-LISA:

  • Once the F01: Carrier Registration Form has been completed and the requested documents secured, the SPOC will generate and email to eu-LISA using the email address below.
    • [email protected]
      • Please note there is an underscore in the space between carrier and onboarding: carrier_onboarding

Step 5: eu-LISA and SPOC

The eu-LISA team will then contact the SPOC for further guidance.

  • Once the application has been receive, eu-LISA may request additional information or clarification.  
  • Once eu-LISA is satisfied with application, they will exchange with SPOC with the Air Carrier’s assigned number and provide the following information:
    • Carrier Welcome Pack: The Carrier Welcome Document is the guide to EES and ETIAS passenger verification services. Together with the Carrier Technical guidelines, Testing Documents and Implementing Regulations and Standard Operating Procedures, the Welcome Pack covers what the carriers need to know about connecting and using the carrier interface.
    • S2S_CTG_Technical Documentation: The Carrier Technical Guidelines (CTG) contains the technical guidelines for the Carriers using the System-to-System channel hosted by eu-LISA
    • S2S_TDD_Technical Documentation: The “Pre-Defined Carriers Test Cases (TDD)” document covers functional scope dedicated for the testing of Carrier Interface Simulator (CISIM) by the Carriers
    • PortalMobile_CTG_Technical Documentation: The Carrier Technical Guidelines (CTG) contains the technical guidelines for the carriers using the Web Portal or Mobile Application channel hosted by eu-LISA
      • Eu-LISA will also communicate with named parties in application for the signature of eu-LISA’s NDA.
      • After NDA is signed and received by eu-LISA, they will exchange with those person via mobile phone encryption codes for eu-LISA’s portal access.

ETIAS Visa Waiver program

The purpose of eu-LISA's ETIAS Visa Waiver program, according to the ETIAS website, is to prescreen visitors who are exempt from a visa requirement to Schengen area countries and identify potential risks and security concerns. 9 The ETIAS website states that all current visa-exempt visitors for Europe will be required to complete the visa waiver application prior to travel, and, once approved, the visitor's waiver is valid for up to three years, allowing multiple visits lasting no longer than 90 days within a 180 day period. 10

Air Carrier Obligations8:

  • Air carriers, sea carriers, and international carriers transporting groups overland by coach shall use the carrier interface to verify whether travelers subjects to the travel authorization requirement are in possession of a valid travel authorization (Article 45(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/124011.
     
  • According to Article 3 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/12174, the verification query shall be introduced at the earliest 48 hours prior to the scheduled time of departure. Carriers shall ensure that only duly authorized staff have access to the carrier interface. The carriers shall put in place at least physical and logical access control mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access to the infrastructure, or the systems used by the carriers, authentication, logging to ensure access traceability, and regular review of the access rights.
     
  • The carrier obligations stipulated in Article 26 of Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement 12 (CISA) remain unchanged. Querying the carrier interface is an additional obligation.

 

Date of Implementation

The implementation date has been delayed from May 2023.  It is now estimated to be rolled out approximately 5 months after the EES program is implemented, so approximately November 2023.

Travelers who fall within the scope of ETIAS 8:

  • ETIAS travel authorization is required for travelers who meet all the following criteria:
    • they are not EU nationals;
    • they are citizens of a country whose nationals are not required to have a visa to travel to any of the European countries requiring ETIAS;
    • they do not have a residence permit/card/document issued by any of the European countries requiring ETIAS.

EES Program

According to the eu-LISA website, the purpose of eu-LISA's Entry / Exit Program (EES) is to electronically capture the entry and exit of visitors who require single or double-entry visas for the prevention of irregular immigration and the management of migration flows. This program will allow the agency to identify any person who no longer fulfills the requirements of an authorized stay as well as reinforce security and fight against terrorism and serious crimes 13.

Air carrier Obligations 8:

  • Air carriers, sea carriers and international carriers transporting groups overland by coach shall use the web service to verify whether travelers holding a short-stay visa issued for one or two entries, have already used the number of entries authorized by their visa (Article 13 (3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226) 14.
     
  • The verification query shall be introduced, at the earliest, 48 hours prior to the scheduled time of departure. Carriers shall ensure that only duly authorized staff have access to the carrier interface. The carriers shall put in place at least physical and logical access control mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access to the infrastructure, or the systems used by the carriers, authentication, logging to ensure access traceability, regular review of the access rights (Article 3 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1224) 15.

Date of Implementation

The implementation date has been delayed from September 2022.  It is now estimated to be rolled out in Spring of 2023.

  • Timeline is estimated to be as follows:
    • March 2023, Operators should have their registration complete and systems in place
    • May 2023, Operators will begin to use the EES systems for passenger validation.

Travelers who fall within the scope of EES 8:

  • Traveler admitted for a short stay, no more than 90 days in any 180-day period, to the territory of MS applying EES. A detailed description can be found in article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2017/222614.

Air Carrier Definition

“According to EU regulations 2021/12174 and 2021/12245, carriers will have the legal obligation to query EES and ETIAS to receive answers regarding the status of travelers.” 6

Per Article 2.14 Schengen Borders Code 7, “A ‘Carrier’ is any natural or legal person whose profession it is to provide transport of persons.” 8

“The obligation to query the interface (for which registration is needed) is for carriers as defined in the CISA (Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement). This involves a professional activity, i.e. the carriers is transporting passengers through a fee.”

Private Chartered

“A flight that is chartered by a private individual or organization and is operated by a commercial charter operator. A charter operator operates under Commercial aviation rules CAT and hold an AOC and are filed as N (Non-scheduled air service) on the ICAO Flight plan. For third country operators need a TCO (Third Country Operator) approval from EASA to operate within the EU.”

  • Private chartered operators need to comply with EES and ETIAS obligations, query the carrier interface and respectively to register with eu-LISA.

Private Managed

“The aircraft is owned by a private individual or organization, and are managed by a professional operator but only for the use of the owner. Managed means in this respect that crew, maintenance, handling and all aspects of conducting a flight is done by a management company but the flights are not open for the public and are only conducted on the aircraft owners behalf.”

  • Private managed operators need to comply with EES and ETIAS obligations, query the carrier interface and respectively to register with eu-LISA.

Private Operated
“The aircraft is owned by a private individual or organization. Crew is hired directly by the aircraft owner and flights are not open for public use/charter.
Crew is professional/semi professional and flights are operated under NCC/NCO rules and are filed as G (General Aviation) Using another transport mode this can be compared to a private car with a professional/hired driver.”

  • Private operated with a crew hired directed do not need to comply with EES and ETIAS obligations.

**With the above being stated, eu-LISA is currently working with NBAA and the BGA community to further clarify which aircraft operators are required to register and who will ultimately be exempt.**

 

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References

  1. Eu-LISA Website: www.eulisa.europa.eu
  2. www.eulisa.europa.eu/Activities/Large-Scale-It-Systems/Etias
  3. https://www.eulisa.europa.eu/Activities/Large-Scale-It-Systems/EES
  4. EU regulation 2021/1217: (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021R1217&from=EN)
  5. EU regulation 2021/1224: (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32021R1224&from=EN)
  6. www.eulisa.europa.eu/Organisation/GoverningBodies/Pages/Working-Group-for-Carriers.aspx
  7. Article 2.14 Schengen Borders Code: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02016R0399-20190611#:~:text=15.%C2%A0%E2%80%98carrier%E2%80%99%20means%20any%20natural%20or%20legal%20person%20whose%20profession%20it%20is%20to%20provide%20transport%20of%20persons%3B
  8. Frequently Asked Questions: (https://www.eulisa.europa.eu/Organisation/GoverningBodies/Pages/Working-Group-for-Carriers.aspx)
  9. www.etiasvisa.com
  10. www.etiasvisa.com/etias-news/when-does-my-etias-expire
  11. Article 45(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1240: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32018R1240
  12. Article 26 of Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A42000A0922%2802%29
  13. www.eulisa.europa.eu/Activities/Large-Scale-It-Systems/EES
  14. Article 13 (3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02017R2226-20210803#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20fulfil,Regulation%20(EU)%202016/399.
  15. Article 3 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/1224: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021R1224#d1e469-46-1