BT4Europe has urged the European Commission to “urgently press ahead” with its plans to digitalise travel documents within the EU.
The group, which represents 13 business travel associations across Europe, was responding to a European Commission consultation on “digitalising travel documents to make travelling easier”.
The commission is considering a range of possible policies to create a “common format” for digital travel documents, which range from voluntary co-operation between member states to the implementation of mandatory digital travel documents across the entire EU.
Patrick Diemer, chair of BT4Europe, said: “Business travellers, in particular, have already embraced the convenience of digital travel documents in the form of electronic boarding passes for air and rail travel.
“The digitalisation of officially required paper documents, including passports, identity cards, visas, vaccination certificates and others, would be a significant step forward, simplifying cross-border travel procedures.”
BT4Europe, in its response to the consultation, called for an “ambitious implementation” of digital travel documents through either mandatory digitalisation or the creation of a new mandatory digital travel document.
“The initial focus should be on implementing digital travel documents within the Schengen area, with plans for broader adoption across the entire European Union at a later stage,” said the group in a statement.
“While starting with cross-border traffic within the EU, BT4Europe aims to ensure that digital travel documents are adaptable to international travel from and into the EU.”
BT4Europe called for a “pragmatic” implementation of new digital travel document rules by the EU, with countries initially allowed to require paper documents “as a fallback measure”.
The group also wants a wider range of documents to be digitalised beyond passports and identity cards, including visas and vaccination certificates.
The formal consultation on digital travel documents ended last week with the commission set to outline its plans in the coming months. The consultation attracted nearly 7,000 responses from across the EU, with the majority (58 per cent) coming from Germany.