REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the delegation of power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS)
Date: 2023-11-16
Institutions: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: EU visa policy, European Commission, Schengen Information System, border control, data protection, delegated legislation, personal data, powers of the institutions (EU), transfer of competence, travel

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 16.11.2023  COM(2023) 699 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the delegation of power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS)   
 
 
Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the 
Council 
on the delegation of power to adopt delegated acts conferred on the Commission pursuant 
to Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a 
European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) 

1.  INTRODUCTION 

Regulation  (EU)  2018/12401  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  establishing  a 
European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) was adopted on 12 September 
2018. 

Regulation  (EU)  2018/1240  establishes  ETIAS  for  third-country  nationals  exempt  from  the 
requirement to be in possession of a visa. ETIAS should provide a travel authorisation for these 
third-country nationals after assessing whether their presence on the territory of the Member States 
does  not  pose  or  will  not  pose  a  security,  illegal  immigration  or  a  high  epidemic  risk.  By 
conducting  an  assessment  of  visitors  prior  to  the  arrival  at  the  external  border  crossing  points, 
ETIAS should contribute to a high level of security, to the prevention of illegal immigration, to 
the protection of public health and to the facilitation of border checks. 

According to Article 89(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1240, the Commission is empowered to adopt 
delegated acts. Article 89(2) foresees that the power to adopt delegated acts shall be conferred on 
the  Commission  for  an  initial  period  of  five  years  from  9  October  2018  and  stipulates  the 
conditions for its extension. The initial five-year period expired on 8 October 2023. 

2.  LEGAL BASIS 

Pursuant  to  Article  89(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1240,  the  power  to  adopt  delegated  acts  is 
conferred  on  the  Commission  for  an  initial  period  of  five  years  from  9  October  2018  and  the 
Commission is required to prepare a report in respect of the delegation of power no later than nine 
months before the end of the five-year period. This report aims to fulfil that requirement. 

Article 89(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 also provides that the delegation of power is tacitly 
extended  for  periods  of  an  identical  duration,  unless  the  European  Parliament  or  the  Council 
opposes such extension no later than three months before the end of each period. 

3.  EXERCISE OF THE DELEGATION 

3.1 Consultation prior to adoption 

In  accordance  with  Article  89(4)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1240,  the  Commission  consulted 
experts nominated by Member States, through an Expert Group and written consultations, during 

1 Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 September 2018 establishing a 
European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and amending Regulations (EU) No 1077/2011, 
(EU) No 515/2014, (EU) 2016/399, (EU) 2016/1624 and (EU) 2017/2226, OJ L 236, 19.9.2018, p. 1–71. 

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the  preparation  of  the  delegated  acts  necessary  for  the  implementation  of  that  Regulation.  All 
Member  States  were  invited  to  nominate  experts  to  take  part  in  these  consultations  and  the 
European Parliament was also invited to participate. 

The documents relevant to these consultations were transmitted simultaneously to the European 
Parliament and to the Council, as foreseen in Article 89(5) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 and in 
the Common Understanding on delegated acts. The observations presented in these consultations 
were taken into consideration when preparing the final versions of delegated acts. Furthermore, 
the Commission regularly informed Member States of the progress made with the draft delegated 
acts. 

3.2 Delegated acts adopted 

During  the  reporting  period,  the  Commission  exercised  its  delegated  powers  by  adopting  the 
following delegated acts. The table below shows which acts contain the specific measures adopted 
under the relevant empowerments in Regulation (EU) 2018/1240. 

Delegated Act 
Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/969 of 22 February 2019 on 
the  tool  enabling  applicants  to  give  or  withdraw  their  consent  for  an 
additional retention period of their application file 
Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/970 of 22 February 2019 on 
the tool for applicants to check the status of their applications and to check 
the period of validity and status of their travel authorisations 
Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2019/971 of 26 February 2019 on 
the definition of the requirements of the secure account service enabling 
applicants to provide any additional information or documentation required 
Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2019/946  of  12  March  2019 
supplementing Regulation (EU) No 515/2014 with regard to the allocation 
of funding from the general budget of the Union to cover the costs for the 
development of ETIAS 
Commission  Delegated  Decision  of  10  December  2020  supplementing 
Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 as regards flagging 

Commission  Delegated  Regulation  (EU)  2021/916  of  12  March  2021 
supplementing  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1240  as  regards the predetermined 
list of job groups used in the application form 
Commission Delegated Decision of 23 November 2021 on further defining 
security, illegal immigration or high epidemic risks 

Commission  Delegated  Decision  (EU)  2022/1612  of  16  February  2022 
specifying the content and format of the predetermined list of options to be 
used to request additional information or documentation 

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of 
(EU) 

Empowerments 
Article  54(2)  of 
Regulation 
(EU) 
2018/1240 
Article 
Regulation 
2018/1240 
Article  6(4)  of 
(EU) 
Regulation 
2018/1240 
Article  15(2)  of 
Regulation 
(EU) 
No 515/2014 

Articles 36(4) and 
of 
39(2) 
Regulation 
(EU) 
2018/1240 
Article  17(3)  of 
(EU) 
Regulation 
2018/1240 
Article  33(2)  of 
Regulation 
(EU) 
2018/1240 
Article  27(3)  of 
Regulation 
(EU) 
2018/1240 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Commission  Delegated  Decision  of  27  March  2023  supplementing 
Regulation  (EU) 2018/1240, as  regards specifying the conditions  for the 
correspondence  between  the  data  present  in  a  record,  alert  or  file  of  the 
other EU information systems consulted and an ETIAS application file 
Commission Delegated Decision specifying the content and format of the 
questions and laying down the additional set of predetermined questions 

Article  11(9)  of 
Regulation 
(EU) 
2018/1240 

Articles 17(5) and 
(6)  of  Regulation 
(EU) 2018/1240 

3.3 Objection to delegated acts 

According to Article 89(6) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1240, the European Parliament or the Council 
may  object  to  a  delegated  act  within  a  period  of  two  months  from  the  date  of  notification, 
extendable by another two months. If either the European Parliament or the Council objects to a 
delegated act within this period, it does not enter into force. Neither the European Parliament nor 
the Council objected to any of the delegated acts mentioned above. 

3.4 Need for extending the power to adopt delegated acts 

While almost all the delegated acts have been adopted before the end of the initial period of five 
years for the exercise of the power to adopt delegated acts, four more delegated acts have not be 
adopted under that initial period.  

Delegated Acts 
Commission Delegated Regulation on the reporting of costs of operation 
and  maintenance  of  the  European  Travel  Information  and  Authorisation 
System  (ETIAS)  for  the  purpose  of  changing  the  amount  of  the  travel 
authorisation  fee  and  on  the  financial  support  to  Member  States  for 
expenses  incurred  to  customise  and  automate  border  checks  in  order  to 
implement ETIAS 
Commission Delegated Regulation on the payment methods and collection 
process for the travel authorisation fee 

Commission  Delegated  acts  to  extend  the  transitional  and  grace  periods 
foreseen after the entry into operations of ETIAS 

Commission delegated acts for changing the amount of the ETIAS travel 
authorisation fee 

Empowerments 
Articles 18(4) and 
of 
85(3) 
(EU) 
Regulation 
2018/1240 

Article  18(4)  of 
Regulation 
(EU) 
2018/1240 
Article  83(1)  and 
3)  of  Regulation 
(EU) 2018/1240 
Article  18(4)  of 
(EU) 
Regulation 
2018/1240 

The  adoption  of  two  delegated  acts  is  still  pending.  They  are  the  Commission  Delegated 
Regulation on the reporting of costs of operation and maintenance of ETIAS for the purpose of 
changing the amount of the travel authorisation fee and on the financial support to Member States 
for  expenses  incurred  to  customise  and  automate  border  checks  in  order  to  implement  ETIAS 
(hereinafter  the  ‘Commission  Delegated  Regulation  on  the  reporting  of  costs’)  and  the 
Commission Delegated Regulation on the payment methods and collection process for the travel 
authorisation fee. 

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The reason for the delay in the adoption of these acts is that priority was given to the amendment 
of certain delegated acts that had already been adopted, which required to be modified following 
the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2021/1134  for the purpose of reforming the Visa  Information 
System  and  Regulation  (EU)  2021/1152  as  regards  the  establishment  of  the  conditions  for 
accessing other EU information systems for the purposes of ETIAS. The former introduced new 
rules on the use of ETIAS by visa authorities and authorities competent to decide on an application 
for a long-stay visa or residence permit, while the latter lays down rules on the implementation of 
the  interoperability  between  ETIAS,  on  the  one  hand,  and  other  EU  information  systems  and 
Europol data, on the other hand, and the conditions for the consultation of data stored in other EU 
information systems and Europol data by ETIAS for the purpose of automatically identifying hits.   

Furthermore, the adoption of the Commission Delegated Regulation on the reporting of costs was 
postponed because:  

a)  it did not require technical implementation by Member States or by the European Union 
Agency  for  the  Operational  Management  of  Large-Scale  IT  Systems  in  the  Area  of 
Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA); and  

b)  its provisions would only be applicable after the entry into operations of ETIAS.  

Another factor that has made it impossible to adopt all required delegated acts in time has been the 
delays in the launch of the Entry/Exit System (EES) due to a number of technical issues. Since the 
EES and ETIAS are interdependent systems, and ETIAS cannot enter into operation before the 
EES  does,  the  changes  in  the  timeline  for  the  EES’  go-live  have  inevitably  delayed  the 
implementation of ETIAS.  

In  addition,  the  Commission  requires  an  extension  of  the  delegation  of  power  because  certain 
additional delegated acts can only be adopted after the start of operations of ETIAS. They are: 

-  The Commission delegated acts to extend the transitional and grace periods foreseen after 
the entry into operations of ETIAS (Articles 83(1) and (3) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1240); 
and 

-  The  Commission  delegated  act(s)  for  changing  the  amount  of  the  ETIAS  travel 

authorisation fee.  

As ETIAS has not started operations, it is not possible to gather enough information to determine 
whether the transitional and grace periods will need to be extended beyond their initial duration of 
six months or whether the ETIAS travel authorisation fee will need to be modified.  

Even beyond the adoption of all pending delegated acts, the empowerment to adopt or amend these 
acts will still remain necessary in order to enable the necessary flexibility in the implementation 
and operation of ETIAS and to adjust them to any relevant development. 

4.  CONCLUSION 

The Commission considers that it has exercised its delegated powers within the remit conferred on 
it by Regulation (EU) 2018/1240. 

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Given the explanation provided in Section 3, the Commission considers there is a clear need for a 
tacit  extension  of  the  delegation  of  power  provided  for  in  Article  89(1)  of  Regulation  (EU) 
2018/1240 for a period of five years. 

The Commission invites the European Parliament and the Council to take note of this report. 

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