Is your passport illegal?

Despite the EU's 'Open Borders' policy, all UK citizens still need a passport in order to leave the UK for any destination in the world.  With an adult passport now costing £77.50, not only is this extortionately expensive, but it may even be illegal under EU Law.

Thirteen years ago an adult passport cost just £18.  Had the cost of this vital travel document risen in line with inflation over the course of the last ten years, it would now cost a mere £24.55; a little under a third of the price being charged today.

In the year to March 2009 a total of 5.25 million passport were issued in the UK.  If we assume that figures remained roughly the same after the price hike to £77.50, this means that the government make a yearly income of £406,875,000 from the sale of passports alone.  To put this in perspective, this is a little more than the total cost of the hugely-successful vehicle scrappage scheme.

Cost of a ten-year biometric passport in EU Member States (non-Schengen states highlighted)

Judging by the worldwide cost of passports, with many now costing upwards of £100, it is not only the UK that suffers from this problem.  It is without a doubt that the urge to travel is a vital source of revenue for governments the world over.  The problem, for me, comes when we look at the European Union in isolation.

Of the 27 EU Member States, only five are not signatory to the Schengen Agreement (more commonly known as the Open Borders Policy).  Therefore, in order to travel to or from these five member states, one is obliged to be in possession of a valid passport.  So whilst a German travelling to Spain needs only his 'Ausweis', a Greek making the short journey to Bulgaria needs to fork out £128 before even leaving home.

The border between Austria and Germany - not a checkpoint to be seen

So here comes the question of legality.  One of the four 'fundamental freedoms' of the European Union is the free movement of persons; i.e. any citizen of any EU Member State is free to travel to and reside in any other EU Member State (a situation which has led to the great immigration problems that the UK is currently experiencing).  As with the other three freedoms, any measure which directly prevents or restricts this free movement is prohibited, as well as measures of equal effect (any measure, which has the secondary effect of preventing or restricting free movement).

Your passport.  Illegal?

Maybe you can see what I am getting at here?


In order to move 'freely' within the EU (in the case of non-Schengen residents), or to travel to any of the five non-Schengen states (in the case of all EU residents), an EU citizen must be in possession of a costly travel document.  There will be those in any EU Member State (especially the likes of Romania and Greece etc.,) who simply cannot afford the £100+ fee for a passport, and therefore cannot exercise their freedom of movement.


Surely then, the requirement upon many EU citizens to purchase a passport in order to exercise their right to freedom of movement constitutes a measure of equal effect and should be ruled illegal under EU Law.


I've not seen any judicial opinion on this matter so far, but would be interested to see what would happen should somebody decide to challenge this ruling in court.