The e-Gate system of the Chisinau International Airport that was taken out of use in 2015 will not be restored as it is too costly for the Border Police. In a response to IPN, the Border Police said that since then they didn’t get financial support from the strategic partners for purchasing new electronic gates.
“This model of e-Gate is outdated and easily defectible. It processes more data from biometric passports of the old type. In this regard, its repair and the re-programming of the software that reads biometric passports of the new type are too costly for the Border Police,” says the response. However, the e-Gate concept wasn’t abandoned and discussions are held with the development partners.
The response also says that the valid travel documents are used as a basis for authorizing the crossing of the state border. All the persons and units of transport must be subject to first-line checks so as to establish their identity based on travel documents. “First-line checks include swift and rapid examination by using appropriate equipment and by consulting the relevant databases so as to find information about stolen documents, documents held illegally, that were lost or annulled, the validity of the travel documents that authorize the legitimate holder to cross the state border and the presence of falsification or forgery signs.
During holidays and in summer, when the state border crossings rise in number, so as to more efficiently manage the flow of passengers and units of transport and to reduce the waiting time, the Border Police increases the number of employees at state border crossing points. Also, the infrastructure of frontier posts and all the lanes at these are used to the maximum.
The time planned for the general check of documents for a person should not exceed 1 minute. The average period for processing a unit of transport with five occupants will usually not exceed five minutes. In addition to the calculations of the processing time, the waiting period includes the length of time spent in rows before entering border crossing points and the institution’s data show that these can compromise the waiting period at the border. In his regard, the Border Police recommends consulting first the information module “Traffic Online” that is available on the official website of the Border Police. If lines form, the less crowded frontier posts situated not far should be used.
