EU agency concluded framework contract for one of the largest biometric systems in the world

The EU ICT agency for internal security and border control, eu-LISA, signed a four-year deal with IDEMIA and Sopra Steria to create a common database of fingerprints and facial images of third country-nationals. This new shared matching system should be set up by 2022 and will ultimately contain fingerprints and facial images of more than 400 million third country nationals.

This shared biometric matching system was foreseen by Regulation 2019/817 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of borders and visa (see entry in Eurosmart’s issue tracker). The Regulation aims to improve checks at the EU’s external borders and combat illegal immigration.

The shared biometric matching service will be composed of a central infrastructure replacing the systems of the Entry-Exit System, the Visa Information System, the Schengen Information System, Eurodac and ECRIS-TCN. It will store biometric templates and allow searches with biometric data.

More information on these systems can be found here.

Do not hesitate to contact Camille Dornier if you have any questions: camille.dornier@eurosmart.com