Biometric control: EU entry and exit system to start gradually
The EU member states are set to roll out the entry/exit system for border management, which has faced years of delays, gradually over a six-month period.
(Image: Fractal Pictures/Shutterstock.com)
On Thursday, the EU Council of Ministers cleared the way for a solution that will allow the digital Entry/Exit System (EES) for biometric border controls to be gradually put into operation, initially by a coalition of the willing. This is the position of the committee of government representatives of the member states on a planned regulation to adjust the existing timetable, which has already been repeatedly readjusted. According to this, participating EU countries should be able to introduce the IT register within six months. At the same time, the Council wants to give border authorities and the transport sector more time to integrate the new procedures.
According to the Council's guidelines, EU states that want to move ahead should work towards ensuring that at least 10 percent of border crossings are recorded at individual checkpoints after the first month. During the first 60 days, they can use the EES without biometric functions. After three months, the parties involved should use the EES with biometric functions at at least half of their border crossing points. At the end of the planned six months, the plan is to "fully register all persons". According to a report, the border authorities in Germany, France and the Netherlands have not yet managed to complete the final tests of their national counterparts to the EES central system.
In future, citizens from third countries will have to register in the EES with four fingerprints and a biometric facial image as part of the "Smart Borders" program in the EU. The database is intended to enable "intelligent border control" based on the US model, calculate the permitted duration of a short stay and automatically warn the national security authorities in the event of an overstay.
Videos by heise
EU agency blames economic partners
Originally, the EES was supposed to be up and running by 2022. In a letter to the Commission, the IT agency EU-Lisa blamed the industry for the massive delays: the main reason for the "cumulative" delays was that the consortium for EES development, consisting mainly of IBM, Atos and Leonardo, had significantly underestimated the complexity of the work. The team assigned to the program was not sufficiently staffed and lacked the necessary expertise. Internal coordination and exchanges with EU-Lisa were not efficient. The Financial Times recently reported that the EU public prosecutor's office is investigating Atos for involving a subsidiary in Moscow as part of the EES contract.
(nie)
