BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union has postponed the introduction of a new biometric entry control system for non-EU citizens, due to be introduced on November 10, after Germany, France and the Netherlands said border computer systems were not. ready anyway.
“November 10 is no longer on the table,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told reporters. She says there is no new timetable, but the possibility of a phased introduction is being looked at.
The Entry/Exit System (EES) should create a digital record that links a travel document to biometric measurements that confirm a person’s identity, eliminating the need to manually stamp passports at the EU’s external border.
Non-EU citizens arriving in the Schengen free travel area would have to register their fingerprints, take a facial scan and answer questions about their stay.
But a spokesperson for the German Interior Ministry said the three countries, which represent 40% of affected passenger traffic, were not ready to implement EES because of the “necessary stability and functionality of the central EES system to be provided by the EU agency EU-Lisa is not yet in place”.
EU-Lisa is the agency responsible for the implementation of large-scale IT systems within the EU.
The French Ministry of the Interior said that while France was convinced of the usefulness of EES, its introduction needed to be well prepared.
The Dutch government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, additional reporting by Gabriel Stargardter in Paris, Andreas Rinke in Berlin; editing by Kevin Liffey)
