EU rolls out new Eurodac system with facial biometrics, interoperability

The EU has announced that the new Eurodac system is officially in operation: the central biometric database for asylum seekers and irregular migrants can now process facial images alongside fingerprints and is interoperable with other European IT systems related to border control.

The rollout of the updated Eurodac system last Friday was not without issues, as a technical glitch during a scheduled update disrupted service for several EU member states.

“Any first day of a new system will have technical glitches. This ​is normal,” EU spokesperson Marcus Lammert said at the EU’s daily press briefing.

Despite the hiccups, member states are gradually linking into the system, co-developed by eu-LISA, EU member states and the European Commission, Lammert adds.

The new Eurodac was launched on the same day that the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact entered into force, introducing new measures for screening and registering irregular arrivals at EU borders. Within seven days, migrants are to be subject to identification, health, and security checks, with their biometric data, including fingerprints and facial images, and copies of their travel documents logged in the revamped Eurodac database.

The system supports border authorities by adding additional identity data and making identification more reliable.

Thanks to interoperability with the European Search Portal (ESP), the Common Identity Repository (CIR), and the shared Biometric Matching Service (sBMS), it is also set to improve information exchange between member states and other countries. Idemia Public Security and Sopra Steria were awarded the sBMS contract five years ago.

“The entry into operation of the new Eurodac demonstrates our shared commitment to delivering secure, reliable and modern digital solutions that support national authorities in carrying out their tasks,” says Tillmann Keber, executive director of eu-LISA (European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems)

Keber notes that the system showcases the agency’s “growing capacity to deliver complex large-scale systems.” The agency used a “software factory” model, bringing together multidisciplinary teams that used Agile and DevSecOps methodologies to design, develop, test, and deploy the system.

While the introduction of the new Eurodac system was welcomed by many governments, some member states are reportedly unprepared to ​implement the requirements of the migration pact, Reuters reports. Despite this, Eu-Lisa’s 2026 plans include other ambitious tasks to be carried out with its 319.1 million-euro (US$369.5 million) budget for this year.

The agency is currently working on Eurodac’s interoperability for the Multiple-Identity Detector (MID), which cross-references biometric and biographical data across multiple EU databases to prevent identity fraud.

After introducing the Entry-Exit System (EES) earlier this year, the bloc is planning to launch the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) later this year.

A further task involves feeding details of criminal convictions handed down in the EU against third-country nationals and stateless persons into the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), which will be rebranded as ECRIS-TCN.

Article Topics

biometric database  |  biometrics  |  border security  |  eu-LISA  |  Eurodac  |  face biometrics  |  interoperability