EU launches interoperable biometric matching service for border control

The European Union has made a big step in making its biometric databases for law enforcement and border control interoperable.

On Monday, the European Commission launched a Shared Biometric Matching Service (sBMS) for fingerprints and facial images. The service stores 400 million biometric templates and makes them available across several European information systems.

The EU and its member states currently run several large-scale IT systems related to border security, including the Schengen Information System (SIS), the European Dactyloscopy Database (Eurodac) and the Visa Information System (VIS). More systems are planned, including the upcoming Entry-Exit System (EES).

These systems were developed independently, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to connect information about individuals stored in separate silos.

“The sBMS will greatly improve the precision of identifying and verifying individuals, strengthening the EU’s border security and controls, as well as enhancing the management of visas and asylum applications,” the Commission says in an announcement.

The system is delivered by EU-LISA, the agency tasked with managing large-scale IT systems and ensuring their interoperability. The biometric templates stored in the sBMS are obtained from biometric data stored in the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Common Identity Repository (CIR).

The CIR is another interoperability component that has been built by EU-LISA. The repository stores individual files created for each person registered in the EES, VIS, Eurodac, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and the European Criminal Records Information System on Third-Country Nationals (ECRIS-TCN).

Other interoperability components include the European Search Portal (ESP), which allows searches across multiple databases, and the Multiple-Identity Detector (MID).

The sBMS is designed to guarantee data security, the Commission adds. The system offers biometric functionalities such as CUD, 1:1 (one-to-one), and 1:N (one-to-many) matching, according to earlier EU-LISA documents.

The Commission also announced that the Visa Information System (VIS) has been adapted to interoperate with the Entry/Exit System (EES).

Article Topics

biometric database  |  biometric matching  |  biometrics  |  Entry/Exit System (EES)  |  ETIAS  |  EU  |  eu-LISA  |  Eurodac  |  Europe  |  interoperability  |  Shared Biometric Matching Service (sBMS)