The parties to the 1993 tripartite agreement (Belgium, France and the United Kingdom) agreed to add the Netherlands as contracting parties through the conclusion of a new contract (“Quadripartite Agreement”). [36] As a result, on 7 July 2020, the four countries signed “the special agreement between the governments of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom on safety issues relating to trains using the fixed channel connection.” [37] On 10 July 2020, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom concluded a bilateral agreement (“Agreement on border controls for rail traffic between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom on the fixed channel link”). [38] With regard to relations between the United Kingdom and the European Union, the withdrawal agreement, which came into force on 31 January 2020, provides for a transitional period of at least 30 December – which can be extended by the joint decision of the United Kingdom and the EU before 1 July 2020 – in which the provisions of EU law continue to apply to the United Kingdom , as was the case as a Member State. without participating in the EU`s decision-making process. On 4 February 2003, France and the United Kingdom concluded the Treaty of Le Touquet (formerly known as a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the French Republic on the organisation of border controls at the seaports of the two Channel and North Sea countries). [52] [53] [54] This agreement provided for juxtaposed controls on a number of ferry routes across the English Channel. The treaty was put into force in France by Law No. 2003-1368 of 31 December 2003[55] and, in the United Kingdom, by the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Juxtaposed Controls) Order 2003. [56] Signed at a summit between President Chirac and Tony Blair in 2003, France and Britain established parallel border controls at canal ports. The French border was moved to Kent and the British border to Calais. THE MINISTER – This is the agreement of Le Touquet; That is why there are British customs officers and border guards at Gare du Nord and Calais. This has not been clearly understood. It has still not been clearly understood….

This meant that each country would set up immigration control centres at the other`s borders, in particular the French immigration checkpoint in Dover and the British checkpoint in Calais. The bilateral Le Touquet agreement, signed at a summit in 2003, provides for “juxtaposed border controls” at French and British seaports, which essentially transfer the French border to Dover and the British border to Calais. In accordance with the new legally binding treaty, Britain will agree to speed up procedures for the reception of legitimate asylum seekers currently stranded in Calais, including those who wish to return to their families in the UK and unaccompanied children, and will pay more for transport security and border maintenance in the French port.