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An official website of the Velocity Interoperability Network

History of the Borders Authority

The Borders Authority of the Velocity Interoperability Network is a young institution, but the boundary it keeps is not. The milestones below record how the arrangements of many member organisations were brought into one Authority, and will be extended as the Authority's works and reporting come into operation.

  1. Before September 2026

    Boundaries kept by member organisations and sites

    Before the Authority existed, each member organisation of the Network kept its own part of the boundary under its own arrangements, and the sites kept their own gates. Hours differed from one crossing to the next, some crossings checked documents and others did not, and a traveller might be checked by a site guard, an officer of the member organisation and a customs officer in turn. There was no common register of crossings and no single record of the perimeter's condition.

  2. 10 August 2026

    The transition period begins

    Member organisations began the transfer of their boundary functions to the Authority in formation. Interim arrangements were agreed under which the existing officers continued to staff the crossings while their records, procedures and equipment were brought together. From this date crossings were recorded on a common return, from which the Authority's first statistics are compiled.

  3. 24 August 2026

    Arrangements with departments agreed

    The Authority in formation agreed with the Immigration Department, the Customs Service, the Transport Department and the other departments and offices with responsibilities at the boundary the principle of a single check, the standards to be applied, the procedure for referrals and the membership of the Boundary Coordination Board.

  4. 5 September 2026

    The transition period ends

    Two hundred and eighty-six officers and staff of member organisations transferred to the Authority, together with the records of 41.3 kilometres of perimeter and of eight crossing points. During the four weeks of the transition, 214,600 crossings by persons and 38,200 by goods vehicles were recorded under the interim arrangements.

  5. 6 September 2026

    Authority established

    The Borders Authority of the Velocity Interoperability Network was formally established, with responsibility for the crossing points at the boundaries of the Network, for the perimeter infrastructure and for coordinating the checks carried out at the boundary by the departments and offices of the Network.

  6. 6 September 2026

    Official website launched

    The Authority launched borders.gov.vin, carrying press releases, official statements, the register of crossing points and their hours, guidance on carrying goods, the register of boundary sections, current notices and the first statistical release.

  7. 6 September 2026

    Register, goods arrangements, statistics and works programme published

    On the day of its establishment the Authority published the register of eight crossing points, set out the arrangements for carrying goods across the boundary that apply from 7 September, published its first statistical release covering the transition period, and published the register of boundary sections and the works programme to March 2027.

  8. 7 to 14 September 2026

    Crossing points pass to the Authority

    Five crossing points are staffed by the Authority from Monday 7 September 2026, Westbrook Freight Gate from 8 September, Hollowmere Lane Crossing from 9 September and Ashgrove Crossing from 14 September. The advance declaration of commercial consignments applies from 8 September. The Boundary Coordination Board meets for the first time on 15 September.

  9. Forthcoming

    Perimeter survey, works and quarterly reporting

    The full survey of the perimeter between 14 and 25 September 2026, the lighting renewal on the western section in October, the fencing replacement on the eastern section from November, and the Authority's first quarterly statistical report, covering the quarter ending 30 September 2026, will be announced in the Newsroom.

Announcements are published in the Newsroom. For the Authority's present responsibilities, see About the Authority; for the condition of the boundary it inherited and the works to come, see Perimeter Infrastructure; for its reporting, see Statistics.