Following the recent news that passengers will no longer be required to remove their shoes at security checks at American airports, a similar revolution is coming to Europe: in Schengen countries and those belonging to the European Free Trade Association, showing ID will no longer be mandatory. This was revealed in an exclusive report by Corriere della Sera, which announced the new provision by the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), which has been given the green light by the Ministry of the Interior. The Schengen countries, i.e. the so-called European borderless area, are all 27 countries of the European Union except Ireland and Cyprus, while the European Free Trade Association countries are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The new rule, which is effective immediately, is a modification of the national civil aviation security program. According to the previous regulation, “the air carrier is responsible for verifying at the gate, at the time of boarding, that the passenger’s name on the boarding pass matches that on an identity document, after visually checking the passenger’s identity.”
This language is now removed, being replaced with: “failure to apply the verification of consistency does not compromise an adequate level of security, as this is guaranteed by the application of specific security measures for passenger screening, as required by current European Union legislation.” However, random checks may be carried out, so it is still a good idea to carry your ID with you, even if you are returning from destinations where the same measure is not required. This makes the new measure particularly useful for domestic flights. Another country that does not require identification for boarding is Germany.
An exemption, requested by the Ministry of the Interior, could be applied to routes that are sensitive to illegal immigration, which could include France. According to ENAC data, 51 million passengers departing from Italy by the end of the year will benefit from the measure.
