On Sunday, 15 March the project on Smart Borders Pilot reached the next milestone - the execution phase. The first live tests started in Lisbon Airport and the first volunteering third country nationals passed through the ABC gates. During the pilot in Lisbon ABC gates will accept travellers from 20 different third countries. This is an achievement that has never before been reached in Europe.
To mark the unique event the Portuguese authorities invited eu-LISA representatives, officials from the Government of Portugal, airport Authorities, experts from the company VisionBox that supports the implementation of the pilot in Portugal and local media to attend the kick-off action.
Links:
Smart Borders as covered by Portuguese media:
Background:
Smart Borders is the European Commission initiative to manage EU external borders in a more efficient and modern way by using new and innovative technologies. These should improve the management of the external borders of the Schengen Member States, facilitate border crossings for pre-vetted third country national frequent travelers, provide information on over-stayers and fight against irregular immigration. The Smart Borders Pilot is a testing phase which aims to test certain new technologies on the border to support the decision making process in the future. The Pilot has been entrusted to the EU Agency for the Operational Management of large-scale IT Systems in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), in close collaboration with the Member States and other European stakeholders. The testing will be carried out between March and September 2015.
See also:
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-is-new/news/news/2013/20130228_01_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/borders-and-visas/smart-borders/index_en.htm
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-141_en.htm
Contact:
info@eulisa.europa.eu
