EU sues consortium including IBM over delays in new border system

The European Union has initiated legal action against a consortium comprising IBM, French IT firm Atos, and Italian defense contractor Leonardo over delays in the development of the new smart border system within the Schengen region. The story was initially reported by the Financial Times on November 9. This new system, known as EU-Lisa, oversees entry and exit procedures in the Schengen area, enabling seamless travel between 29 countries.

Upon entering the region, travelers from outside the Schengen bloc are required to submit their fingerprints and biometric data. The objective of the system is to eventually replace paper passport stamps with a digital platform capable of identifying overstayers and enhancing security measures.

The system was originally slated for a 2022 launch but was only fully implemented this year. However, its introduction has been hampered by numerous issues across the EU, resulting in lengthy queues at airports and numerous passengers missing their flights. EU-Lisa, the agency responsible for managing large-scale IT systems overseeing entry and exits in the Schengen region, filed the lawsuit against the three companies last December.

This action followed the consortium's repeated failure to meet deadlines and their refusal to acknowledge EU-Lisa's warnings and fines.

Although a significant number of EU nations are still in the process of implementing the new scanners, the European Commission clarified that the lawsuit concerns the delayed delivery of the system and not its operational performance. Reuters, through a statement to the Financial Times, confirmed the lawsuit, and a spokesperson for Estonia's Harju county court acknowledged it.

EU-Lisa, headquartered in Estonia with additional operations in France, Austria, and a liaison office in Belgium, stated that the legal dispute does not affect the functioning of the new Entry/Exit system, which is described as "fully operational" throughout Europe. The Financial Times discovered extensive disagreements between the consortium and EU-Lisa spanning several years, including delays linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, disputes over unrealistic deadlines, and payment issues.