Secunet assists German authorities in EC’s smart borders pilot project

Secunet announced that it has been providing support to the German authorities for the European Commission’s Smart Borders pilot project.

The Smart Borders program is an EC initiative aimed at making entry to and exit from Europe more efficient for non-EU citizens.

The goal of the joint project of the German Federal Police, the German Federal Office for Information Security and the German Federal Office of Administration is to demonstrate how new technologies can optimize the border control management of the external Schengen borders.

The external Schengen borders are to be equipped with an intelligent Entry/Exit System (EES) to improve control procedures and increase security and convenience, speeding up border crossings for trustworthy frequent travelers.

During the nine-month EU pilot project, devices for capturing biometric data of travelers at border crossings were trialed. However, in comparison to the other member states involved in the pilot project, Germany broadened the scope of the project. In particular, all modified processes and their impact on the entire border control process have been examined. Germany is the only member state to have fully trialed the EES-specific control processes from start to finish and to have evaluated their impact on the planned border control process.

The European Commission’s pilot project ended in November and the final report was published in December by eu-LISA.

The German project participants have decided to continue with the project until the end of 2016 in order to evaluate effects over a longer time period. Secunet has assisted the German Federal Police (BPOL), the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the German Federal Office of Administration (BVA) from the outset, providing support throughout the entire development and implementation phase, conceptualized and overseen processes, analysed results and provided modern border control technology.

The secunet experts have been able to draw on their experience of the many major biometric and border control projects that they have completed both in Germany and abroad in recent years.

Featured in the Smart Borders pilot project German installations are the secunet eID PKI Suite, a Public Key Infrastructure (specifically for the management of official documents), secunet bocoa (an optimised border control application used by border control staff for traveler clearance) and the secunet easygate automated border control system. The secunet bioserver, which connects the biometric modules on the server, has been used for the downstream analysis and quality evaluation of biometric data gathered as part of the pilot.

The German Smart Borders pilot installations are located on the EU’s external border checkpoints at Frankfurt airport and the cruise terminal in Rostock-Warnemünde and they can be used by third-country nationals to cross the border.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  border security  |  EC  |  Europe  |  German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI)  |  pilot project  |  secunet