Valid ID documents are now also required to travel to Denmark. The new Danish border control came into effect on Tuesday.
A month ago, it was announced that Denmark would introduce border controls with Sweden, as part of a bid to combat crime in the Öresund region. The new rules for travel to Denmark come into effect today, Tuesday, November 12.
As random samples will be carried out, travelers from Sweden need to bring ID documents (see fact box) when they travel to Denmark.
Checks will be carried out a few times per week and Danish police will not announce when or where they will do the checks.
– You will not see permanent, 24-hour manned control measures at the border crossings to Sweden. The control will be carried out as random checks and periodic checks aimed at road and train traffic across the Öresund connection and ferry traffic in the ports of Helsingör, Frederikshavn, Grenå and Rönne, says Lene Frank, Police Director at the National Police in Denmark, in a press release.
Train traffic is not affected.
Unlike the border control in Hyllie, the controls in Denmark will not affect train traffic. When Aftonbladet contacted the Copenhagen police, they announced that the controls would take place at Kastrup.
Police will then carry out ID checks on people getting off the train and also get on the train themselves and carry out checks on board, until the next station, where they get off again.
– When we heard that the border controls would also go in that direction, we were of course worried that it would be the same situation as in the reverse, when we introduced border controls towards Sweden. But we have worked intensively to get answers to what the controls themselves should look like and the answers we have received are that they will take place on board the trains while the trains are rolling or just when the passengers get off, says Mikael Espling, business manager for Öresund trains at Skånetrafiken.
Six months ahead
– It shouldn't affect traffic in any way, but we should be able to run all trips as planned and maintain punctuality.
The Danish Ministry of Justice has previously announced that there will be an average of one or two checks per week at the major border crossings, but that traffic patterns, for example, will play a role in how often the checks will be carried out.
The border controls will be implemented for six months with a possible extension. The focus will then be on catching organized criminals and not on checking the general public, which is why children do not need to identify themselves and no fines will be handed out.
Sweden has had internal border controls for travelers coming from Denmark since November 2015, with the same requirements that now apply to Denmark: Valid passport or national ID card. A Nordic driver's license can also work, but the traveler is then obliged to be able to prove that they are a Nordic citizen.
Source: aftonbladet.se
