The agency at a glance.
Date: 2018-11-30
Institutions: Frontex
Subjects: EU activity, EU office or agency, European cooperation, Frontex, border control, external border of the EU

The Agency at a Glance

Main responsibilities

Field deployment  The agency provides law enforcement 
officers from the Member States and Schengen Associated 
Countries, along with vessels, airplanes and border surveillance 
equipment to external border areas in need of additional 
assistance. In addition to border control, Frontex operations 
cover tasks related to maritime safety, security checks, search 
and rescue and environmental protection.

Risk analysis  Frontex assesses risks to EU border security. It 
builds up a picture of patterns and trends in irregular 
migration and cross-border criminal activities at the external 
borders. The agency shares its findings with EU countries and 
the European Commission and uses them for planning its 
future activities. All Frontex activities are guided by risk 
analysis.

Situation Monitoring  Frontex constantly monitors the 
external borders of the European Union, delivering updates 
and alerts to EU Member States and Schengen Associated 
Countries, the European Commission and other agencies.

Vulnerability assessment  The agency carries out annual 
evaluations of the capacity and readiness of each Member 
State and Schengen Associated Country to face challenges at 
its external borders, including migratory pressure.

European Cooperation on Coast Guard Functions   
The agency supports the cooperation of law enforcement 
authorities, EU agencies and customs at maritime borders. 
Boats and planes deployed in its operations also collect and 
share information relevant to fisheries control, detection of 
pollution and compliance with maritime regulations.

Sharing of intelligence on criminal activities  The agency 
shares the intelligence gathered at the borders with relevant 
national authorities, Europol and other European agencies. 
This includes information on persons suspected of 
involvement in criminal activities, such as migrant smuggling, 
trafficking in human beings and terrorism.

What is Frontex?

Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, 
supports EU Member States and Schengen Associated 
Countries in the management of EU’s external borders and 
fighting cross-border crime.

The agency is a centre of excellence for border control 
activities at the EU’s external borders, sharing intelligence and 
expertise with all EU Member States, as well as neighbouring 
non-EU countries affected by migratory trends and cross-
border crime. 

Among its many tasks, the agency coordinates the 
deployment of border and coast guards, along with boats, 
airplanes, patrol cars and other equipment, to EU countries 
facing exceptional pressure at their external borders. 

Return operations  Frontex is playing an increasingly 
important role in returning people who are not entitled to 
remain in the European Union to their home countries. The 
agency helps Member States in coordinating and financing 
return operations, but can also launch them on its own 
initiative.  For this purpose, Frontex can charter flights and 
book seats on commercial flights. The agency also helps with 
obtaining the necessary travel documents for the returnees 
and providing experts to assist with the return operations.

External Relations  Cooperation with countries outside the 
EU and the Schengen zone is an integral part of the Frontex 
mandate and one of the strategic priorities for the agency. 
To ensure implementation of the European integrated border 
management (IBM), Frontex develops and maintains 
a network of partnerships with border authorities 
in non-EU states, particularly those neighbouring the EU 
and countries of origin and transit of migrants. The agency 
also deploys liaison officers to countries outside the EU 
affected by irregular migration.

Rapid reaction  Frontex is able to quickly deploy border and 
coast guards and equipment to EU Member States and 
Schengen Associated Countries facing an emergency at their 
external borders. Member States must provide up to 1500 
officers from the rapid reaction pool upon request by the agency.

Research and Innovation  Frontex brings border control 
experts together with research and industry to make sure new 
technology meets the needs of border control authorities.

Training  Frontex develops common training standards for 
border authorities to harmonise border and coast guard 
education in EU and Schengen Associated Countries. This is 
intended to ensure that wherever travellers cross an external 
EU border, they will encounter uniform border-control 
standards. It also enables border and coast guards from 
different countries to work together efficiently while deployed 
in Frontex operations.

Joint operations

Joint operations are the most visible among the agency’s 
activities. Frontex deploys hundreds of border and coast guard 
officers, along with boats, cars, airplanes and other equipment 
to assist Member States facing challenges at the EU’s external 
borders. These operations take place at Europe’s sea and land 
borders, as well as international airports. Currently Frontex 
mostly relies on EU Member States and Schengen Associated 
Countries to provide the specialised officers and the equipment 
for its operations, but the agency is moving towards leasing 
and buying its own equipment. Frontex can also count on a 
pool of at least 1 500 officers who can be deployed within five 
days to deal with emergencies at Europe’s frontiers. 

While the agency’s sea operations taking place in the Mediter-
ranean support Italy, Greece and Spain in dealing with migrato-
ry pressure, all of the agency’s operations also help tackle 
various forms of cross-border crime. The sea operations include 
additional tasks, such as monitoring of pollution and illegal 
fishing. These are implemented with the cooperation of other 
EU agencies, especially Europol, the European Maritime Safety 
Agency (EMSA) and European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA).

Law enforcement

Frontex plays an essential role in strengthening the internal 
security of the Schengen zone by monitoring its external 
borders, conducting security checks and return operations and 
cooperating with national authorities and Europol. 

Plac Europejski 6
00-844 Warsaw, Poland
frontex@frontex.europa.eu
www.frontex.europa.eu

Frontex also contributes to the fight against terrorism by 
assisting Member States in tightening controls at the external 
borders and supporting the detection of potential foreign 
terrorist fighters. Officers deployed by Frontex are trained to 
detect persons who might be linked to terrorism.

Role of Frontex in search 
and rescue operations

Participation in search and rescue operations has always been 
a priority for Frontex and is enshrined in the EU regulation 
that created the European Border and Coast Guard. Frontex is 
obliged to provide technical and operational assistance at sea 
in support of rescue operations that may arise during border 
surveillance operations. Search and rescue activities are also a 
specific objective of the operational plan of the every Frontex 
sea operation. 

Between 2015 and 2017, Frontex contributed to the rescue of 
280 000 people in the Mediterranean Sea.

Paper version: 
TT-01-18-402-EN-C
978-92-9471-155-7
10.2819/63939

PDF version: 
TT-01-18-402-EN-N
978-92-9471-153-3
10.2819/34627