Schengen area
The basic description of Schengen area and the main features of the membership
- General information
- The main features of the Czech Republic´ membership in the Schengen area
General information
At midnight 20th/21st December 2007, the Czech Republic joined the Schengen area. Simultaneously, the border checks along its entire land borders were abolished.
Border checks have been preserved only at the international airports on flights connecting the Czech Republic with non-Schengen states. On internal flights within the Schengen area, border checks came to an end on 30th March 2008.
By joining the Schengen area, the Czech Republic successfully concluded a long preparatory phase for the full application of the Schengen acquis and put into practice all measures compensating the absence of the internal border control.
Abolition of border checks was preconditioned by ensuring high level of security. Therefore, the so called “Schengen evaluation” was held in the period of 2005-2007, aimed at testing the preparation level of the future member states for joining the area. A successful result of this evaluation was a necessary condition for admission of the Czech Republic to the Schengen area.