New border-crossing procedure at Estonian-Russian road border points from 1 August 2011

The procedure for crossing the border at the Estonian-Russian border will change from 1 August 2011. According to the new procedure, a common border-crossing queue information system will be created. The new system will be used in three Estonian road border points: Narva-Ivangorod, Koidula-Kunitsina Gora and Luhamaa-Šumilkina. A waiting area will also be created near every road border point, so that drivers can wait for their border-crossing time in the best conditions.

What are the aims of the new border-crossing procedure?

 - The border-crossing queue information system will give people the option to plan their border-crossing date and time.
 - Knowing their border-crossing time, people crossing the border by vehicle can arrive at the border at the appointed time, which will eliminate the need to wait for border-crossing in a live queue and creates more humane conditions for waiting in the border queue. For instance, people can make their holiday plans better and cargo vehicle drivers know already at the beginning of their work assignment when they have to arrive at the border.
 - If people wishing to cross the border have to wait for border-crossing, they can do so in waiting areas with considerably improved conditions.

What is the common border-crossing queue information system?

The common border-crossing queue information system is an electronic database for booking border-crossing dates and times. The common information system servicing three border points will be used by all the people crossing the border, regardless of which country they live in or what kind of vehicle they use. The service will be provided in Estonian, English and Russian.

The integral system will give an improved overview of how many vehicles are waiting to cross the border at any road border point. People crossing the border can choose the most suitable border point and time for crossing the border.

The name of the common border-crossing queue information system is GoSwift. The border-crossing system has been created by Girf OÜ within the framework of an administrative assignment given by the Ministry of the Interior.

How can border-crossing date and time be booked?

GoSwift can be used for making pre-bookings in Estonian, English and Russian, by forwarding data concerning the vehicles and the persons intending to cross the border. That can be done as follows:
 - on web pages www.eestipiir.ee or www.estonianborder.eu  
 - by telephone +372 6 989192
 - Vehicles arriving at the border without a booking can register for the live queue also at the official waiting area near the border point, either at a self-service booth or with the help of the waiting area service personnel. There are no options to register for the queue at the actual border point.
 - Dates and times can be booked up to 90 days in advance.

What kind of data need to be forwarded?

Upon making a booking, data concerning the persons and vehicles intending to cross the border need to be submitted.

Cargo vehicles need to submit the MRN number of their customs document or declare that they will be crossing the border without a load.

A booking will be unsuccessful if the same person with a vehicle of the same category or a vehicle with the same registration number has already been added to the queue.

What are the options of payment for bookings?

For border-crossings taking place in 2011, making a booking costs 1 EUR, plus the waiting area fee, the amount of which depends on the waiting area and the vehicle category.

The clients of Estonian banks can pay for their bookings by bank transfer via the Internet or by credit card, and upon booking by telephone, also by mobile payment or credit card.
All others can only pay by credit card upon making a booking via the Internet or by telephone. Everyone who has opened a user account in the information system can pay for the booking from the prepayment account. In a waiting area, payments can be made by debit card and credit card or in cash.

Bookings become effective after the payment is made.

What is a waiting area?
 
A waiting area is an official parking area by the border, where vehicles with pre-bookings are checked, vehicles without pre-bookings are registered and vehicles are directed to the border checkpoint. In a waiting area, drivers can wait for their border-crossing time in more convenient conditions.

Vehicles arriving at a waiting area will be registered and – when their border-crossing time arrives – directed to the border. The relevant information is posted up on the electronic displays in the waiting areas.

All the vehicles have to pass through the waiting area.

Waiting areas near Estonian road border points:

 - There are two waiting areas near the Narva-Ivangorod border point:
   -  the Narva waiting area for passenger cars, buses and local trucks (Transservis-N)
   -  the Sillamäe waiting area for trucks (Sillamäe Sadama AS)
 - The Koidula border point waiting area for all types of vehicles (Paldiski Sadamate AS)
 - The Luhamaa border point waiting area for all types of vehicles.

A waiting area has wireless Internet access (WiFi), lighting and security, including video monitoring, as well as the possibility to collect everyday waste and use toilet facilities. The service provider of a border-crossing waiting area may also provide other services in the waiting area (e.g. a cafe).

The service provider of a border-crossing waiting area charges a fee for using the border-crossing waiting area. The said fee varies in different waiting areas. For instance, starting from 1 July, the fees at the Narva waiting area are as follows: 1 EUR for motorbikes, 2 EUR for passenger car and 14 EUR for trucks and buses.

The amount of the fee for using a border-crossing waiting area will be reviewed every year, but the fee must not exceed 14.38 EUR for trucks and buses, 4.8 EUR for passenger cars and 1.6 EUR for motorbikes.

What are the time limits of the system?

A booking prescribes a period of one hour, during which the planned border-crossing will take place – for instance, from 13:00 to 14:00. 

Category A, B and D vehicles have to arrive by the beginning of the booked time and category C vehicles 3 hours before the booked time in the case of both pre-bookings and registrations for the live queue.

In the case of both pre-booking and registration in the general queue, category A, B and D vehicles have to arrive by the beginning of their booked time, while category C vehicles have to arrive 3 hours before the booked time. Upon registering in the general queue, drivers should take into account that it is difficult to estimate the exact time of border-crossing in the general queue, as the queue sometimes moves slower and sometimes faster, depending on the number of people and vehicles crossing the border, the working speed of border checkpoints and the number of people with a prerogative to cross the border. As estimating the exact border-crossing time is difficult, people are informed of the number of vehicles already in the queue before them. It is recommended that people wait for their border-crossing time in a waiting area; outside a waiting area, people should monitor the movement of the queue and their place in it via www.eestipiir.ee. A paid SMS notification concerning the progress of the queue can be ordered from service providers.

The administrators of waiting areas organise the waiting queue and are responsible for the queue arrangements.

The capacity of border points cannot be accurately forecast. The number of vehicles waiting to cross the border varies from day to day. When planning a border-crossing, it is therefore recommendable to check the length of the queue at the border at www.eestipiir.ee or www.estonianborder.eu. It is also useful to keep in mind that the queue at the Narva border point may be about 2 days; less at Luhamaa and Koidula.

How does the booking notification work?

After a booking has been made, the system will send (upon request) an additional free of charge notification by e-mail or SMS. A person making a booking can order additional fee-based notifications by SMS. No free of charge notifications will be sent after making changes in a booking.

Further information is available by calling the paid information hotline 900 25 25 (cost of the call 1.52 EUR).

The progress of the queue and the booking status can be viewed on web pages www.eestipiir.ee or www.estonianborder.eu  

In waiting areas, information is provided on electronic displays.

What are the conditions of priority border-crossing?

The following can register for the priority queue:

1) vehicles transporting a member of an international delegation or an employee of a foreign diplomatic representation or consular authority,
2) vehicles transporting time-sensitive goods,
3) vehicles, which have the right of priority in border-crossing on the basis of an international agreement or treaty,
4) category A or A1 motorbikes.
These vehicles can be booked for the priority queue via the Internet, by telephone and on the spot in waiting areas.

Places in the priority queue can be booked in waiting areas in the following cases:

1) If the vehicle is carrying a person who has legal basis for temporary stay in the territory of the member states of the Schengen Convention – a visa or the right to stay without a visa – and tourists who have arrived at a waiting area and for whom the waiting time for border-crossing would be unreasonably long.
2) If the vehicle is carrying a person who has a registered place of residence in Estonia according to the Population Register and who works in the Russian Federation and has been entered in the list used by the Police and Border Guard Board until   31.07.2011 or later. (This is a temporary solution, which will be used until a similar electronic solution based on personal identification documents is introduced in the information system.)
3) If the vehicle is carrying a person who has a good reason for border-crossing and for whom waiting the border-crossing time in the general queue would clearly be disproportionately burdening;
4) If the vehicle is carrying a person who has a one-time good reason for urgent border-crossing and the waiting area service provider has previously agreed it with the border checkpoint.

Good and urgent reasons for crossing the border in the priority queue include, for instance, the unexpected illness or death of a close relative, the need to catch a plane or train departing from the Russian Federation, the validity period of a visa or the right of stay ending before the border-crossing time in the live queue, a sick child being taken for treatment,  international delegations driving to a conference, international competitions etc by passenger car or bus, etc.  The urgent need to cross the border has to be proven in the waiting area.

When a vehicle with the right to book a place in the priority queue arrives at the waiting area, it will be given the first available time for border-crossing. If many vehicles with the right to cross the border in the priority queue arrive at the border, they will be assigned places in the order of their arrival.

Electronic border-crossing registration is regulated by the following legal acts (in estonian):

Section 8 of the State Borders Act
https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/12899713?leiaKehtiv

Statutes of Border-crossing Queue Database
https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/13349081

Subsection 59¹(2) of the Customs Act
https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/740392?leiaKehtiv

List of Time-sensitive Goods
https://www.riigiteataja.ee/akt/13333903

For further information, please visit www.eestipiir.ee or www.estonianborder.eu