The Entry/Exit System is aimed at making it possible to record the time and place of arrival and departure of non-EU citizens at EU airports, while the Registered Traveller Programme will make it possible for frequent visitors to travel under a simplified system.


The programme is to be tested for six months in six different countries, with Portugal the first to start the pilot project on 15 March, at Lisbon airport.


In the run-up to the launch, the secretary of state for home affairs, João Almeida, and a member of the European Parliament for People's Party, Nuno Melo, visited the border post at the airport, together with Beça Pereira, the national director of the Portugal's immigration service, SEF.


According to Melo, the system is crucial to identifying possible terrorist threats. The system had been developed before the recent attacks in Paris, he said, but the initiative has gained "new momentum" as a result.


The secretary of state said that Portugal was chosen to pioneer the scheme in part because in recent years it has developed a range of cutting-edge technologies in the field.


The other five countries that are to test the system are the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France and Sweden.