Resumen de Watching the guards: Ensuring compliance with fundamental rights at the external borders

Jorrit J Rijpma

• The essay deals with the enhancement of the legal framework for informal readmissions at internalborders enshrined in the proposal on an amended Schengen Border Code, which in turn requiresenhancement of bilateral police cooperation. It focuses on the impact of the new rules on the prohi-bition on police controls equivalent to border checks to highlight that the case-law of the Court ofJustice on the matter creates a huge grey area which is critical for the ideal of a border-check-freeUnion. Increased use of video surveillance and other technologies also faces the legal bottleneck ofprohibition on police controls having equivalent effects to border checks, as well as raising seriousconcerns on fundamental rights. It is argued that the situation resulting from these amendments tothe Schengen Border Code should be considered in terms of an impending rule of law crisis at inter-nal borders. [Correction added on 19 July 2024 after first online publication: The Abstract sectionwas previously omitted and has been included in this version.]