Border checkpoint

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An Israeli checkpoint on the West Bank.

United States–Mexico border checkpoint at Nogales, Arizona.

United States-Canada border checkpoint at Lewiston, New York.

Vietnam-Cambodia border west of Ho Chi Minh City.

A border checkpoint is, as its name suggests, a place on the land border between two states where the travellers and / or goods are inspected. Historically all borders had checkpoints (unless they were completely closed to travellers), and these were usually the only places at which it was legal to cross the border, but in modern times checkpoints have been reduced on some borders due to international and supranational arrangements (see e.g. Schengen Treaty). Land border checkpoints can be contrasted with the customs and immigration facilities at seaports and international airports.

Checkpoints generally serve two purposes:

To prevent the passage of individuals seen as either a criminal or potential threat or otherwise undesirable.
To prevent the passage of good that are illegal, subject to restriction or to collect tariffs.

Checkpoints are usually manned by a uniformed service (sometimes referred to as customs service or border guards) that answers to the national government. Individuals frequently attempt to escape or evade these controls by the use of smuggling, bribes or forged papers.

1 In popular culture
2 Definitions in European Union (Schengen) law
3 References
4 See also

[edit] In popular culture

Checkpoints feature especially in political stories and spy novels as the place where one officially changes from one jurisdiction to another, frequently from friend or neutral to enemy. Borders can also represent a large contrast between the culture, political system and-or wealth on either side of the border. Also, when attempting to cross boundaries illegally, the checkpoint is seen as the last and frequently most difficult challenge immediately preceding the other country.

It's also popularly associated with the phrase "Your papers please".

[edit] Definitions in European Union (Schengen) law

The Schengen 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):^[1]

"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).