EU court agrees U.K., Ireland cannot adopt certain Schengen measures

The EU’s highest court has ruled that the European Council was correct not to allow the United Kingdom and Ireland to adopt new Schengen agreement regulations establishing standards for security features and biometrics in passports. The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice (ECJ) said the United Kingdom and Ireland can only adopt new measures related to the agreement in areas where the two countries are already authorized to do so. In February 2004 the United Kingdom asked the council to allow it to adopt a regulation establishing the Frontex Agency, which coordinates border security between member states. In May that year, the United Kingdom asked to take part in the adoption of a regulation which established standards for security features and biometrics in passports.

The council would not allow it to adopt the measures. It said they constituted developments of the agreement in which the United Kingdom does not take part. The United Kingdom asked the ECJ to rule on this matter. The United Kingdom considered the council’s decision a breach of the Schengen Protocol, claiming its right to adopt such measures is independent of whether or not it takes part in the provisions on which the measure is based. The United Kingdom and Ireland are not bound by the Schengen agreement, by which member states agreed to gradually remove controls at their common borders and introduce freedom of movement.