Thanks to the nationwide introduction of EasyPASS, border control has been accelerated. All adult citizens of the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, who have an electronic passport, can use the EasyPASS lanes on a voluntary basis without prior registration. EasyPASS users will benefit directly from the automated control procedures offered by the eGates; moreover, the other travellers will gain from the shorter queues.
"The launch of EasyPASS does not only serve technical and organisational purposes; it is also an economic necessity in order to keep pace with the developments in international travel," stated the German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich, at the 2nd International Strategy Symposium of the Hanns Seidel Foundation that took place on 3 December 2012 in Munich.
At border controls the identity of the traveller as well as the authenticity and validity of the travel document are checked via EasyPASS in an automated process. In order to verify the identity of the traveller the facial image stored in the chip of the ePassport will be compared against live images of the passport bearer. These automated procedures maintain multiple processes in parallel, with the biometrics-based methods ensuring maximum security.
Furthermore, automated border control procedures (automatisierte Grenzkontrollverfahren - ABG, in German) are also provided in Frankfurt; this is a national registration programme for frequent travellers called the Registered Traveller Programme (RTP), which will be incorporated into the EasyPASS concept, in order for an eGate to be used for all automated control procedures in the future.
"The combination of ABG and EasyPASS simplifies produces both from a technical perspective as well as for the benefit of the traveller, and this also contributes to cost efficiency,” added the Minister.
Whereas ABG involves the central storage of iris biometrics prior to its use, its successor ‘Easy Pass RTP’ will use only data existing in the chip in the electronic travel document for the purpose of identification.
A Europe-wide tender process is expected to open in early 2013, aiming to get the first eGates in operation by the end of year. Control lanes for persons with reduced mobility are also being tested.
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Quelle/Source: epractice, 11.12.2012
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