National authorities

The Bureau of Border and Alien Police falls under the Presidium of Police Force, Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic and governs directly organisational units with the territorial competence – the state border – and the territory of the Slovak Republic External Schengen border: land border with Ukraine (97,9 km), three international airports with non-Schengen flights (Bratislava, Poprad and Košice). The Bureau’s competences are based on both – the EU regulations and national legislation of the Slovak Republic. The core competencies of the Bureau are as follows: risk analyses, border control (surveillance and border checks at border crossing points), detection of false documents, combating facilitators’ networks, fight against illegal migration and cross border crime, residence permits, expulsion of aliens, readmission, visa, implementation of the Dublin Convention and training of experts.

The Border Police Division within the Slovenian Police performs tasks in the field of state border security, illegal migration, and foreigners. It plans, organises, and monitors the following work: border checks, border surveillance, compensatory measures, investigation of criminal offences and violations on the state border and border incidents, prevention of illegal migrations and events related to legislation on aliens. In the second instance, it decides on matters related to crossing of the state border and directs and coordinates the work of the Aliens Centre. It also monitors and evaluates security conditions and efficiency of police work, participates in the preparation of legislation and directives, in improvement of tactics and working methods, and in processing of computer data. It also takes care of the implementation of obligations imposed by international agreements and in recent years has been focusing on the implementation of Schengen standards for integrated border management. In addition to international cooperation, it also collaborates with other state authorities and organisations.

The Policia Nacional Cuerpo Nacional de Policía (National Police Force) is the National Civilian Police Force of Spain. With over 69 000 members (as of 31 May 2023), it handles criminal and forensic investigations and deals with cases of terrorism, public order, aliens, and borders. The specific and exclusive competencies of the national police regarding aliens and border issues are: the control of entry and exit by the national territory of Spanish nationals and foreigners, issuing of residence permits and other competencies granted by law on aliens in the area of refuge and asylum, refusal, expulsion, emigration and immigration, management of 78 border crossing points, prevention, investigation, and prosecution of illegal migration networks.

With more than 80 000 officers, Guardia Civil is the national police authority competent throughout all the Spanish territory, comprising both mainland and the territorial waters. Its competencies include both law enforcement and border and coast guard tasks, many of which are exclusive, such as criminal and administrative police at sea, fight against smuggling activities through border crossing points, control of weapons and explosives or the control of natural environments and fight against the traffic of protected species, among others. Guardia Civil is also entitled as customs and fiscal police and is also in charge of the inspection of objects and means of transport of travellers crossing the border.

Guardia Civil plays a fundamental role in controlling the illegal immigration towards the EU’s South-West external borders, as it is in charge of sea borders surveillance (over 8 000 km), the control of critical border structures such as ports (34 border crossing points), airports (43 border crossing points) and land borders (4 border crossing points, with Andorra’s Principality, United Kingdom and Kingdom of Morocco), where preventive and investigative activities in the migration and cross-border crime domain are carried out by its agents.

Additionally, over the years, Guardia Civil has developed an important network of cooperation and technical assistance with main security stakeholders of many origins and third countries of transit in the West African coast. A wide range of activities are held in this region, such as exchange of liaison officers, mixed patrols, capacity building projects or secured networks for information exchange (SEAHORSE) to prevent departures of irregular immigrants from their countries of origin.

The Swedish Coast Guard is a civilian government agency under the Ministry of Defence. In addition to providing rescue services and performing maritime surveillance and other maritime tasks, the agency performs border control at sea. The Coast Guard is an integral part of the national crisis preparedness in the maritime domain. The authority's vision is a safe, clean, and living marine environment for everyone.

The Swedish Police Authority is among other tasks responsible for maintaining border security in Sweden. The National Border Policing Section is part of the Police Authority and more specifically the National Operations Department, which has its headquarters in Stockholm. Its primary task is to exercise border control on a national and international level. However, border police operations also include carrying out internal alien control and enforcing the Migration Agency's and court's decisions on rejection or deportation. Furthermore, the Border Policing Section is the Frontex National Point of Contact. The section also has a coordinating role towards the seven Police Regions in Sweden, which are all involved in border control. The Border Policing Section works closely together with other authorities in Sweden, such as the Coast Guard, the Customs, the Prison and Probation Service and the Migration Agency, regarding border control matters.

The Swiss Border Guard is the uniformed and armed part of the Federal Customs Administration and as such forms part of the Federal Department of Finance. The Border Guard has three strategic tasks: customs duties together with the collection of value added tax and customs duties, these include the prevention of smuggling and trafficking in narcotics, weapons, war material, hazardous substances, protected animal species, cultural artefacts and counterfeit branded articles, police security duties. These mainly involve searching for people, goods, and vehicles, detecting document forgeries and preventing international crime, aliens police duties, such as the prevention of illegal entry into and departure from the country, illegal residence and working, people smuggling and trafficking.