Aut­ho­ri­ties are working on plans to intro­du­ce pass con­trol at the air­port of Lon­gye­ar­by­en. Spits­ber­gen is under Nor­we­gi­an sove­reig­n­ty, but has a spe­cial sta­tus due to the regu­la­ti­ons of the Spits­ber­gen trea­ty that is in force. Sin­ce 2001, Nor­way is part of the Schen­gen sys­tem, but this does not include Spits­ber­gen. This can lead to pro­blems for tra­vel­lers who are regis­tered insi­de the Schen­gen sys­tem, but who are not regis­tered when they lea­ve Schen­gen when tra­vel­ling from Nor­way to Spits­ber­gen. Pass con­trol on Lon­gye­ar­by­en would eli­mi­na­te this pro­blem, alt­hough it would be unpo­pu­lar in Lon­gye­ar­by­en and Nor­way. Final details remain to be deter­mi­ned.

Source: Sval­bard­pos­ten and Barents Obser­ver