Which specific Schengen countries and entry points were the first to implement the EU Entry/Exit System (EES)?

1. What “first implementation” means under the rules

The legal and operational plan for EES established a staged introduction: co-legislators adopted the EES Regulation in 2017, the Commission set 12 October 2025 as the launch date, and member states were required to begin biometric registration and other EES processes at least at one border crossing point from that date, with progressive rollout to all external border crossing points by 10 April 2026 ^{[1] [2]}. In practical terms, “first implementation” therefore does not imply a single system‑wide flip‑the‑switch moment across all borders, but rather that each participating state activated EES at one or more designated external entry/exit points starting on 12 October 2025 ^[2].

2. Switzerland named as an early, documented example — airports specified

Among the reporting, Switzerland is the clearest named example of concrete entry points brought online from day one: Swiss authorities applied EES at Geneva, Zurich and Basel airports as part of the 12 October start of the phased rollout ^[3]. This specific airport list is repeatedly cited by institutional and institutional-adjacent outlets describing how Switzerland handled its initial activation, making it the best-documented instance of which checkpoints were “first” to operate under EES while the progressive national rollouts continued elsewhere ^[3].

3. France and other Schengen states: progressive rollout, few pinpointed single sites

European reporting notes France “gradually rolled out” EES across its external borders beginning on the same launch date, but public sources in this dataset do not provide a definitive list of the initial French checkpoints switched on 12 October 2025 ^[3]. More broadly, coverage emphasizes that each of the 29 participating Schengen countries (25 EU Schengen members plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) began phased implementation across selected external border crossings from October 2025 onward, with the expectation that by 10 April 2026 all external crossing points would be operational ^{[4] [5] [1]}.

4. Why a single catalogue of “first” entry points is hard to produce

The rollout design—legalized as a progressive activation—meant member states chose specific external crossing points to activate first, and authorities published activation information at different levels of detail and cadence; EU-level sites emphasize the date and the eventual deadline rather than a definitive list of every first checkpoint ^{[2] [1]}. As a result, while Switzerland’s airports are explicitly named in available institutional reporting, most other countries’ initial entry points are described only as “selected external border crossing points” without a consolidated public roster in the provided sources ^{[3] [2]}.

5. Bottom line — who and where were first, according to available reporting

The EES began operation across the Schengen Area on 12 October 2025 and required each participating country to start at least at one external crossing point on that date, with full implementation across all external border points by 10 April 2026 ^{[1] [2]}. Publicly available, source-cited specifics identify Switzerland’s Geneva, Zurich and Basel airports as being active from day one; for other Schengen countries the rollout started on the same date but the exact initial checkpoints were not comprehensively listed in the materials provided ^{[3] [2]}.