EES Urges EU Borders to Become Biometric by 2021
All of the external borders of the European Union (EU) are to become biometric by 2021, which effectively requires authorities to register all travelers to the EU from third countries: a tremendous challenge, to say the least.
Author
As an International Sales Manager at Adaptive Recognition, I am responsible for the business development in several countries all over the world. We are market leaders in the OCR based technologies industry, and my task is to help our partners, customers find the most suitable solution for their needs in the ID reading & verification technology.
The European Entry/Exit System (EES) Will Make You Wish to Be Ready
As of 2021, the EU’s external border controllers have to record all entry events of so-called ‘third country travelers’. In other words, authorities must thoroughly check inbound travel by individuals from outside the Schengen area. Once done, they must save the data to a European database. This is the basics of the EEs, which poses an unprecedented challenge for the EU.
Let’s dive into the details.
What Is the EES?
The Entry/Exit System (EES) is under development by the Agency to further improve the management of the external borders. This, in particular, is to verify compliance on the authorized period of stay on the territory of the Member States.
With the migratory pressure and the wave of attacks on Europe in recent years, border management has become a top priority for the European Commission (EC) – and for citizens. This is where EES enters the picture. It’s a sophisticated system that will electronically register the time and place of entry and exit of third-country nationals. It will also calculate the duration of their authorized stay. It will replace the obligation to stamp the passports of third-country nationals which is currently applicable to all Member States.
Adaptive Recognition does have a project for installing ABC gates – the foundation of implementing EES control. The objectives of the EES include the prevention of irregular immigration and facilitating the management of migration flows. The EES will contribute to the identification of any person who does not fulfill or stopped fulfilling the conditions of authorized stay on the territory of the Member States. Additionally, the EES should contribute to the prevention, detection, and investigation of terrorist offenses and other serious criminal offenses.
Find further details below. And don’t forget to sign up to receive the detailed description of EES with reference to Frontex and relevant EU regulations.
Our Role in the New System
The Goals of EES
ESS is a powerful prevention and detection tool of the EU. Criminal activities such as human trafficking, illegal immigration or the trafficking of objects are today the result of illicit border crossings. And this is largely facilitated by the lack of registration at the entrance and exit points of the Union.
Authorities and experts know the following scenario used by malevolent individuals well. After a standard control when entering the Schengen area, criminals destroy identity documents in view of malicious activities. Why? Because they know that authenticating them would be almost impossible.
Adaptive Recognition focuses on the elimination of counterfeiting practices at border crossings. Hence why we take part in Frontex events on a regular basis. Adaptive Recognition is also a source of information on the subject with relevant articles; these include the higher security checks by reading digitally stored face photos.
Even if EES assumes that all visitors are law-abiding and well-intentioned, the system will eventually be a powerful device for the prevention and detection of terrorist activities or other serious criminal offenses. The information stored in the new register for 5 years also includes information about rejected people – mainly names, passport numbers, fingerprints, and photos. Border and visa-issuing authorities, as well as Interpol, will be able to access these with ease.
Adaptive Recognition document readers provide fast, accurate passenger check-ups in many parts of the world. Larger references include installations in the Netherlands, Lithuania, Croatia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Hong-Kong, and Cuba.
A Goldmine of Valuable Data
The system will be available for surveys in particular, given the possibility of consulting cross-border and historical movements. All this is in the strictest respect of human dignity and the integrity of people, according to the regulation 2017/2226 of the European Parliament.
EES is very clear on this: discrimination based on sex, color, ethnic or social origin, genetic characteristics, language, religion or belief, political opinion or any other opinion is strictly out of question. Additionally, EES operators must not investigate cases simply based on the national minority, wealth, birth, disability, age, or sexual orientation of visitors.
One of the key aspects of the audit process is checking the traveler’s identity document. This is a complex task: on one hand, the system needs to know and manage all of the personal documents, and on the other hand, it needs to read the data, run the authenticity check in just a few seconds and compare the data with the databases of the authorities in the background. This can only be done with the most innovative and tested technology, such as the devices that Adaptive Recognition has developed and produced in the last 20 years.
Why Adaptive Recognition?
Adaptive Recognition’s dedicated document readers have been conceived for the most mission-critical and harsh environments: border control, police system, and military usage. This is a true heritage that has been used within the civil sector. High quality, durable and excellent image quality.
Adaptive Recognition document readers have recently received German BSI certificates. This document reader authentication is reserved for the very best products with an especially strict requirement system.
If you want to learn more about the specific challenges and difficulties that the introduction of EES will pose, stay with us for our next piece coming out on March 5.
