Prior to 2017, most European passport holders were subject only to minimum visual passport checks when entering and leaving the Schengen Area, taking less than 5 seconds. Following several terrorist attacks in Europe, the Schengen Borders Code was amended in 2017 to require that the passports of all travellers (including those entitled to free movement between the two countries concerned) be machine-scanned upon entering and leaving the Schengen Area to check against various criminal databases.[3] This process can take up to 30 seconds per traveller and has led to long delays at all borders between Schengen and non-Schengen countries, both at airports and at road and rail borders.[4]