Staff from border control firm secunet Security Network have commented on a recent open letter to the EU Council of Ministers by the international air transport associations IATA, A4E, AIRE, ERA and ACI Europe.In the letter, the organisations expressed their concerns about the "chaoticimplementation of Regulation EU 458/2017".The authors of the document stated that the increased checks specified by the Regulation in relation to external borders of the Schengen area, have resulted in long waiting times for passengers.Among other aspects, their recommendations to the EU member states for countermeasures include using Advanced Passenger Information(API) data more efficiently, as well as considering increased use ofautomated border control systems.Frank Steffens, Principal at secunet Security Networks, commented on thisas follows:"In the current situation, the border police forces are doing very goodwork, and taking every possible step to ease the situation. Advancedtechnology is helping them to do this: in particular, reading and checkingthe chips contained in the passports represents a huge win in terms ofsecurity, with moderate time needed for checking."As requested by the air transport associations, expanding the automatedborder control systems as well as making greater use of Advance PassengerInformation (API) data would be recommended to achieve further improvement."There are also other ways to optimise checking processes, and to use theavailable personnel to best effect: database queries in background systemsshould be enhanced with respect to the response speed and reduction in thenumber of irrelevant hits."Automated kiosk systems can be used to recordidentification and biometric data in advance. In principle, rather thanindependent, self-implemented solutions, proven products should be used thatare modular in structure and therefore easier to expand. Moreover, productsof this type are mostly state-of-the-art".He also stated that the next major challenge is already in view: the EU-wide entry/exit system planned for 2020, as part of the Smart Borders programme."This will once again significantly increase requirements on border control processes. It's important that member states engage with this topic at an early stage, as,in my experience, intense preparation is always needed when new proceduresare introduced at the border; this preparation may take the form of pilotprojects, for example. We have seen this in many examples from the past,such as the introduction of the electronic passport, the visa informationsystem, and automated border control."
secunet comments on waiting times at airports
