By the end of this year, Schengen Member States will be required to have a biometric entry and exit system (EES) to register non-European citizens crossing an external EU border. Thales, in collaboration with the company Zelenza, has been selected by the Spanish Ministry of Interior to provide over 1,500 Manual Border Control Inspection units across all border-crossing points.
Those units located at the border officer’s control point will be equipped with Thales EES Border Control Clearance Software and with Thales devices such as document readers with embedded document verification, fingerprint scanners, and face pods with a facial capture system. These integrated systems have been designed to deliver a fast and secure identity enrolment and clearance process for non-EU citizens at borders.
The contract will be executed over the next eight months during which these systems will be deployed at airports, ports and land crossings throughout Spain. Funded by the EU’s Internal Security Fund, the new system will work to facilitate the border clearance of travelers while increasing the security at the Schengen Borders.