Finland to Become first European Union Nation to Test Digital Passports

Finland said that it wants to test the use of digital travel documents in cross-border travel, by becoming the first member nation in the European Union to do so. The eagerness of Finland to test digital travel documents follows the wish of the European Commission for the pilot project to be carried out by some other member states of the European Union in order to gather experience that would allow them to present a proposal for implementing such project in all European Union member nations.

This type of project will be funded by the European Commission, and the primary plan of Finland is to test digital travel documents between Croatia and Finland, but the funding still needs to be approved. As soon as the funding is approved, the use of digital travel documents will be tested at Helsinki Airport.

Mikko Vaisanen, an inspector at the Finnish Border Guard, said by using digital travel documents, border checks, and the travel process will run faster and smoother. He also said if the European Commission approves the project, the authorities will provide a group of volunteers with a smartphone app that contains a digital travel document.

With the help of this app, passengers will be able to send their travel documents to the border authorities before their trip. However, they will keep their physical passport with them during the pilot project.