Editing Border checkpoint (section)

== Definitions in European Union (Schengen) law ==
{{See also|Schengen Area}}
[[Image:EU Swiss border post.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Italian-Swiss border post – since Switzerland joined the [[Schengen Area]] in 2008, this checkpoint is solely for customs formalities]]

The ''[[Schengen Agreement|Schengen]] [[Schengen Borders Code|''Borders Code'']]'', which forms part of the law of the [[European Union]], defines some terms as follows (particularities with respect to the EU are left out, in order to emphasize general usability of those definitions):<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:105:0001:0032:EN:PDF|title=Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2006 establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) |date=2006-04-13|access-date=2007-11-25}}</ref> 
*"Border crossing point" means any crossing point authorized by the competent authorities for the crossing of external borders (Article 2 sec. 8 of the Schengen Borders Code);
*"[[Border control]]" means the activity carried out at a border, [...] in response exclusively to an intention to cross or the act of crossing that border, regardless of any other consideration, consisting of border checks and border surveillance (Article 2 sec. 9 of the Schengen Borders Code);
*"Border checks" means the checks carried out at border crossing points, to ensure that persons, including their means of transport and the objects in their possession, may be authorised to enter the territory [...] or authorised to leave it (Article 2 sec. 10 of the Schengen Borders Code);
*"Border surveillance" means the surveillance of borders between border crossing points and the surveillance of border crossing points outside the fixed opening hours, in order to prevent persons from circumventing border checks (Article 2 sec. 10 of the Schengen Borders Code).
*"Second line check" means a further check which may be carried out in a special location away from the location at which all persons are checked (first line)
These definitions mean that a place where a road crosses an internal Schengen border is legally not a "border crossing point".