J. Peter Burgess & Dariusz Kloza (2021) Border Control and New Technologies: Assessing Integrated Impact Assessment. Brussels: VUB Press
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Presenting the theory and practice of impact assessment, tailored to new border control technologies, this handbook takes as a case-study the so-called no-gate crossing point solutions. These ‘smart borders’ have the ambition of allowing for ‘seamless’ or ‘contactless’ passage through state borders. Such technologies are increasingly employed at state borders with the aim of facilitating border checks. However, experience has shown that their use often comes into conflict with societal concerns such as the respect for fundamental rights to privacy and personal data protection. As a result, there is a growing need to accommodate two requirements, the first being the deployment of new border control technologies and the second being the respect for relevant societal values. This handbook introduces a tool that seeks to accommodate both requirements, namely impact assessment. Impact assessment is an evaluation technique used to analyse the possible future consequences on societal concerns of a given initiative. The main objective of the assessment process is to support informed decision-making about whether or not, and under what conditions, to deploy a given initiative.
The Handbook of Integrated Impact Assessment is addressed predominantly to border control authorities in the European Union and in the Schengen Area wishing to ensure that new technologies for controlling state borders respect the principles of democracy, the rule of law and human rights. The handbook will be of interest also for border control officials elsewhere in the world as well as for anyone dealing with the theory and practice of impact assessment.