According to the results of the Second report on the implementation and functioning of the local border (LBT) traffic regime, the European Commission has concluded that the regime is working well in practice. Despite the little amount of available data, the Commission concluded that the LBT regime is helping to makes life significantly easier for people living near the external land borders and there is little evidence that the regime is being abused. Consequently, the Commission is not considering amending the LBT Regulation

The 2006 Regulation laying down rules on local border traffic at the external land borders of the Member States allows derogating, for persons living in a border area, from the general rules on border checks set out in the Schengen Borders Code. The aim is to avoid creating barriers to trade, social and cultural interchange or regional cooperation with neighbouring countries. The Regulation authorises Member States to conclude bilateral agreements with neighbouring non-EU countries, provided these agreements fully comply with the parameters set by the Regulation.

The Local Border Traffic regime has been in existence for four years, and there are still only four LBT agreements in force that were negotiated under the Regulation. However, three more agreements – between Poland and Belarus, Lithuania and Belarus and Norway and Russia – are expected to enter into force over the next few months. This shows that the countries concerned consider the regime useful for increasing cross-border trade, social and cultural interchange and regional cooperation.

In its first report the Commission found that the LBT agreements lay down stricter conditions than those that would be allowed by the LBT Regulation. It also found that none of the agreements in force or signed use the full range of facilitation measures. Nothing has changed since then to alter this assessment. 

From the relatively limited information available, the Commission therefore believes that the LBT Regulation strikes the right balance between facilitations and the security concerns of the Schengen area as a whole. Consequently, the Commission is not considering amending the LBT Regulation either in order to redefine the border area or to require travel medical insurance. The Commission therefore requests Member States with agreements that do not conform to the Regulation to amend these, in line with the procedure laid down in Article 13 of the Regulation. If these agreements are not amended, the Commission will be obliged to make use of its powers under the Treaty to ensure consistent and correct implementation of EU law.