Switzerland’s busiest international hub, Zurich Airport is swept up in the EU-wide upgrade to how third-country nationals are registered at Schengen borders, with the rollout of the EU Entry/Exit System.
The tech provider supporting this rollout is Secunet, a first provider of cybersecurity and secure infrastructure that is indispensable to the networked world.
The EES represents the largest innovation in European border management since the creation of the Schengen area. Gone are the days of stamping passports. Instead, every traveller crossing into the EU from a third country will now be biometrically registered, with facial images and fingerprints captured and stored in a central EU database.
Whilst ushering in the EES, Zurich Cantonal police faced the challenge of how to meet the EU’s stringent requirements whilst not overburdening border officers. The solution came through a close partnership with secunet, whose technology underpins the airport’s EES-compliant infrastructure.
Europe is facing a time of “growing global uncertainty”, said Marc-Julian Siewert, CEO of secunet. “We have worked with authorities in various European countries to develop a robust, scalable platform that now ensures smooth EES-compliant processes with the highest security and data protection standards. The successful EES rollout with the Zurich Cantonal Police is an excellent example of this…”
The capabilities now reduce waiting times by allowing travellers to enter their data in advance at self-service kiosks. secunet is providing similar support to border authorities across other Schengen states in the EES rollout, including Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.
The rollout features a suite of secunet solutions, including automated border control gates, self-service kiosks, secunet easytower facial cameras, and a central server that seamlessly communicates with the EU’s EES. Many of these systems were already in use at Zurich Airport, but the upgrade integrates them into a fully EES-compliant ecosystem.
The EES rollout is part of the EU’s broader Smart Borders Initiative, designed to prevent illegal entry and monitor overstays by third-country nationals. Zurich joins Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, and other Schengen states in adopting the system.
