Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control

The Schengen Borders Code (SBC) provides Member States with the possibility to temporarily reintroduce border control at all or specific parts of their internal borders in the event of a serious threat to public policy or internal security.

The reintroduction of border control at the internal borders is a measure of last resort, which must be limited to exceptional situations and must respect the principles of necessity and proportionality.

The duration of such a temporary reintroduction of border control at the internal borders is limited in time, depending on the legal basis invoked by the Member State introducing such border control.

The scope and duration of reintroduced border control should be restricted to the bare minimum needed to respond to the threat in question. Reintroducing border control at the internal border should only be used as a measure of last resort.

The reintroduction of border control is a prerogative of the Member States, subject to monitoring and reporting obligations of the Commission, who must in certain cases issue an opinion regarding the necessity of the measure and its proportionality.

Notifications of the Temporary Reintroduction of Border Control

Current Temporarily Reintroduced Border Controls

Country	Duration	Reasons/Scope
The Netherlands	09/12/2025 - 08/06/2026	Continuous serious threat to public policy caused by high levels of asylum applications, irregular migration, migrant smuggling, and secondary movements, leading to an overburdening of the migration system and the asylum system, particularly, the reception capacity; land borders with Belgium and Germany, and the intra-Schengen air borders.
Denmark	12/11/2025 –11/05/2026	Serious threats to public policy and internal security posed by possible sabotage actions from Russia, as well as continuous terrorism-related events and organised crime, notably, tied to the Israeli-Hamas conflict and driven by radicalisation from groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaida. These threats include potential attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets; land and sea borders with Germany but may extend to all internal borders.
Norway	12/11/2025 –11/05/2026	General threat aimed at the energy sector, threats of sabotage posed by the Russian intelligence service, as well as to increase infrastructure protection; ports with ferry connections to the Schengen area
Austria	12/11/2025 –15/12/2025	Persistent threats associated with the continued high levels of irregular migration and migrant smuggling across Austria’s southern borders, as well as the strain on the asylum reception system and basic services, Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine and the security situation in the Middle East, intensifying the threat posed by Islamist extremism and terrorism; land borders with Hungary and Slovenia.
Austria	16/10/2025 –15/12/2025	Continuous threats associated with irregular migration, such as via the Balkan routes (including expected migratory pressure), as well as the strain on the asylum reception system and basic services, Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, and the security situation in the Middle East aggravated by terrorist groups; land and river borders with Slovakia, and land borders with Czechia.
Sweden	12/11/2025 –11/05/2026	Continued serious threats to public policy and internal security posed by organised cross-border crime and other criminal activities, including the involvement of foreign state actors leveraging criminal gangs, coupled with persistent threats from violent Islamist groups and individuals; all internal borders (land, air, and sea) and land borders with Denmark.
France	01/11/2025 –30/04/2026	Serious threats to public policy, public order, and internal security posed by persistent jihadist threats, a rise in antisemitic attacks, the growing criminal networks facilitating irregular migration and smuggling, and irregular migration flows towards the Franco-British border that risk infiltration by radicalised individuals, as well as the irregular crossings on the Channel and North Sea borders, along with rising violence among migrants, particularly in northern coastal areas such as Dunkirk and Calais, leading to tense and perilous situations for both migrants and law enforcement; all internal air and sea borders, land borders with Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Swiss Confederation, Spain, and Italy.
Poland	05/10/2025 –04/04/2026	Persistent migratory pressure from irregular migration and migrant smuggling from Belarus at the Lithuanian-Polish border. A significant increase in the number of illegal migrants on the Polish side of the German-Polish border resulting in a disproportionate burden on Poland and serious threats to public policy or internal security; land borders with Germany and Lithuania.
Germany	16/09/2025 – 15/03/2026	Serious threats to public security and order posed by continued high levels of irregular migration and migrant smuggling, and the strain on the asylum reception system. The impact of the global security situation (including Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East) on security and migration; land borders with France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, Czechia, and Poland.
Slovenia	22/06/2025 – 21/12/2025	Serious threats to public policy and internal security posed by a high level of terrorist threats and organised crime, including human smuggling and arms trafficking, the risk of terrorist infiltrations into migratory flows via the Western Balkans, hybrid threats from the Russian Federation and Belarus, as well as instability in the EU’s neighbourhood, including Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine and instability following the fall of Assad’s regime in Syria; land borders with Croatia and Hungary.
Italy	19/06/2025 – 18/12/2025	Continued threat of terrorist infiltrations into migratory flows along the Western Balkan route, ongoing crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, high level of irregular migration including a strong presence of criminal smuggling and trafficking networks, and heightened security risks associated with the Universal Jubilee of the Catholic Church; land borders with Slovenia.
Austria	12/05/2025 – 11/11/2025	Threats associated with the continued high levels of irregular migration and migrant smuggling across Austria’s southern borders, as well as the strain on the asylum reception system and basic services, Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine and the security situation in the Middle East, intensifying the threat posed by Islamist extremism and terrorism; land borders with Hungary and Slovenia.
The Netherlands	09/06/2025 - 08/12/2025	Serious threat to public policy caused by high levels of asylum applications, irregular migration, migrant smuggling, and secondary movements, leading to an overburdening of the migration system in general and the asylum system in particular, as well as pressure on public services, including housing, health care and education; land and air borders with Belgium and Germany.
Denmark	12/05/2025 – 11/11/2025	Serious threats to public policy and internal security posed by possible sabotage actions from Russia, as well as continuous terrorism-related events and organised crime, notably, tied to the Israeli-Hamas conflict and driven by radicalisation from groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaida. These threats include potential attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets; land and sea borders with Germany but may extend to all internal borders.
Norway	12/05/2025 – 11/11/2025	General threat aimed at the energy sector, threats of sabotage posed by the Russian intelligence service, as well as to increase infrastructure protection; ports with ferry connections to the Schengen area
Sweden	12/05/2025 – 11/11/2025	Serious threats to public policy and internal security arise from organised cross-border crime and terrorism, highlighted by attacks involving military-grade explosives against foreign institutions and the public, including the involvement of foreign state actors leveraging criminal gangs, coupled with persistent threats from violent Islamist groups and individuals; all internal borders (land, air, and sea) and land borders with Denmark.

Cases requiring action due to unforeseeable events (Article 25a(1-3) SBC)

Where immediate action needs to be taken to adequately respond to an unforeseeable serious threat, a Member State may, on an exceptional basis, immediately reintroduce border control for 1 month without prior notification.

At the same time as reintroducing the internal border control, the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the other Member States must be informed of the measure.

While the reintroduction can be prolonged for further periods, the overall period of border control reinstated in response to an unforeseen threat shall not exceed 3 months.

Cases requiring action due to foreseeable events (Article 25a(4-6) SBC)

Where a serious threat to public policy or internal security is foreseeable (e.g. large-scale sports events), the duration of the border control is limited to 6 months.

If required, the reintroduction can be prolonged for renewable periods of up to 6 months. The maximum duration shall not exceed 2 years.

In foreseeable cases, the Member State shall notify the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the other Member States at the latest 4 weeks before the planned reintroduction or prolongation of border control. If the circumstances giving rise to the need to reintroduce border control become known at a shorter notice, the Member State shall submit its notification as soon as possible.

Where internal border control has been in place for 6 months, the Member State concerned shall carry out and include a risk assessment in every subsequent notification prolonging the control which provides even more detail to show that the reintroduction remains a temporary measure of last resort.

Once internal border control is lifted, or every time that it has been in place for 12 months, Member States are further obliged to submit a report to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the controls.

In a major exceptional situation, Member States may prolong internal border controls beyond the two-year maximum period for an additional period of 6 months.

Where the continued need for border control is confirmed but this additional period is not sufficient to ensure alternative measures are available to address the persisting threat, a Member State may decide to prolong further for a final additional period of up to 6 months, bringing the total up to three years.

Cases where a large-scale public health emergency puts the overall functioning of the Schengen area at risk (Article 28 SBC)

Upon proposal by the Commission, the Council may authorise Member States to reintroduce internal border controls in case of a large-scale public health emergency which puts the overall functioning of the Schengen area at risk.

The Council’s authorisation shall cover a period of up to 6 months and may, upon proposal by the Commission, be renewed for further periods up to 6 months for as long as the public health emergency persists.

Cases where exceptional circumstances put the overall functioning of the Schengen area at risk (Article 29 SBC)

In exceptional circumstances, where the overall functioning of the Schengen Area is put at risk as a result of persistent serious deficiencies relating to external border control, and insofar as those circumstances constitute a serious threat to public policy or internal security, the Council may, based on a proposal from the Commission, recommend that one or more Member States decide to reintroduce border control at all or at specific parts of their internal borders.

Such reintroductions shall be limited to a period of up to six months and may be prolonged no more than three times, in case the exceptional circumstances persist, for a maximum period of two years.

Such a recommendation shall only be made as a last resort and as a measure to protect the common interests within the Schengen Area, where all other measures, in particular those referred to in Article 21(1) of the SBC, are ineffective in mitigating the serious threat identified.