Border Checkpoint - Definitions in European Union (Schengen) Law

Definitions in European Union (Schengen) Law

The Schengen Borders Code, which forms part of the law of the European Union, defines some terms as follows (particularities with respect to the EU are left out, in order to emphasize general usability of those definitions):

• "Border crossing point" means any crossing point authorized by the competent authorities for the crossing of external borders (Article 2 sec. 8 of the Schengen Borders Code);
• "Border control" means the activity carried out at a border, in response exclusively to an intention to cross or the act of crossing that border, regardless of any other consideration, consisting of border checks and border surveillance (Article 2 sec. 9 of the Schengen Borders Code);
• "Border checks" means the checks carried out at border crossing points, to ensure that persons, including their means of transport and the objects in their possession, may be authorised to enter the territory or authorised to leave it (Article 2 sec. 10 of the Schengen Borders Code);
• "Border surveillance" means the surveillance of borders between border crossing points and the surveillance of border crossing points outside the fixed opening hours, in order to prevent persons from circumventing border checks (Article 2 sec. 10 of the Schengen Borders Code).

• United States–Mexico border checkpoint at Nogales, Arizona.

• 1970s photo taken of the Vietnam-Cambodia border west of Ho Chi Minh City from the Cambodian side.

• An African road border entering Niger from Benin at Gaya

• Old border post on the France-Spain border (both countries now part of the Schengen Area)

• Looking into Austria from Liechtenstein, with a joint border station. Since Liechtenstein joined the Schengen Area in 2011, this border station is for customs formality only.