ETIAS Watchlist

Tuesday 16th January 2018 Written Statements

[The Minister for Policing and the Fire Service (Mr Nick Hurd)]

The Government have decided not to opt-in to the proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) 2016/794 for the purpose of establishing a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) watchlist.

As the UK does not participate in ETIAS itself, we do not expect to have direct access to the watchlist through this process. The Government also note that there are a number of issues still to be resolved with regard to how the watchlist will be hosted by Europol and how it will function. As such, it is not clear whether opting in could place any additional obligations on the UK. For these reasons, the Government have decided not to opt in to the amending regulation at this time.

Not opting in will not affect the operability of the Europol regulation for the UK.

[HCWS405]