Police checks and temporary border controls
Any person, irrespective of their nationality, may cross the internal borders without being subjected to border checks. However, the competent national authorities can carry out police checks at internal borders and in border areas, provided that such checks are not equivalent to border checks. The non exhaustive list of criteria allowing to assess if police checks is equivalent to border controls is set out in the Schengen Borders Code. The Code is complemented by relevant case-law of the Court of Justice. It includes the following elements:
- the police checks do not have border control as an objective,
- are based on general police information and experience,
- are carried out in a manner clearly distinct from systematic border checks on persons at the external borders,
- are carried out on the basis of spot-checks.
The police carry out checks under the national law of the Schengen country. Depending on the exact purpose, they can, for example, include identity checks.
For more information on police checks in internal border areas see cases of the European Court of Justice C-188/10 (Melki), C-278/12 (Adil) and C-444/17 (Arib).
Temporary reintroduction of border controls
If there is a serious threat to public policy or internal security, a Schengen country may exceptionally temporarily reintroduce border control at its internal borders.
If such controls are reintroduced, the Member State concerned has to inform the Council (and thus, other Schengen countries), the European Parliament and the European Commission as well as the public. The Commission provides more information on the current reintroductions of internal border controls on the website: Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control.
