Ref. Ares(2022)7043159 - 12/10/2022 I Ref. Ares(2022)4699631 27/06/2022 Subject:                               Mission Report to Washington DC (entry-exit programs and biometrics) Visit to Washington DC, 6-7 June 2022 (technical level meetings with the US authorities; visit to Washington Dulles International Airport; meeting with the Delegation of the EU to the US) Participants: European Commission: eu-LISA: Krum Garkov (Executive Director eu-LISA ), Frontex: Greece -1 Polland - Romania US authorities: (6 June) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection: (7 June) Department of Homeland Security - Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM): Summary

On 6 and 7 June 2022 in Washington DC (USA), an EU delegation composed by COM, eu-LISA, Frontex and representatives of3 Member States (Greece, Poland, Romania) met the US Department of Homeland Security experts, visited the Washington Dulles international Airport for a live demo at departing flight and informed the Delegation of the EU to the US on the relevant activities. The aim of meeting the US authorities was to discuss the Entry-Exit programs challenges in the US, lessons learned from the biometric deployments, use of biometrics and access to biometric data to support national security missions, ongoing initiatives for land borders and to identify opportunities for future cooperation. The general messages conveyed by eu-USA referred to the aim of having EES and ETIAS systems operationalized on time in the EU, the need to reach out to all carriers, the plans for the digitalization of the Schengen visa and the EU increased interest in artificial intelligence. COM (DG HOME) informed about its role in elaborating the technical requirements by means of legal acts as well os its task to carry out information campaigns to keep the поп-EU nationals and the general public well informed on the new systems. Eu-LISA's Executive Director presented an overview of the main challenges in relation to the implementation of the Interoperability architecture in the EU. US authorities streamlined that they do not collect social media photographs in their facial image data holdings and they show great interest in privacy. US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) relies on the facial image as the main biometric identifier during the entry- exit procedures, considering it isfastf 2 seconds or less). At the some time, CBP is interested in iris scanning, which is highly expensive to implement, as well as in the new technology developments allowing to take fingerprints by mobile phone. CBP advised that the collection of biometrics from the passengers always involves more time at first entry. Pre-registrotion solutions and pre-vetted travelers are considered paramount for an efficient border check. Generally, US relies on a remarkable investment in resources. It was agreed to continue the bilateral technical discussions, via virtual meetings, including on the topic related to Privacy/artificial intelligence postponed due to time constraints. US will share training materials related to lessons learned on the use of biometrics, which would be very useful for the MSs. Furthermore, a new opportunity to physically meet the US representatives and further elaborate on relevant topics is the Biometrics Institute Annual Congress plannedfor October 2022 in London, an event focusing on biometric challenges and gathering worldwide biometric experts. Detailed report > 6 June: Visit at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) headquarter (technical discussions with the Office of Field Operations and Office of Information Technology ) Eu-LISA's Executive Director reviewed the following topics of interest at EU level: the current planning of both EES and ETIAS, the new IT architecture, the interoperability components, the challenges at land borders, the debates on handling passenger queues, reflections on pre-enrollment, the need to close the gap between the legislation and technical capabilities; digitalization of the Schengen visas and the related pilot project, the huge interest in artificial intelligence. COM (DG HOME) informed about its role in drafting and adopting the legal acts detailing a wide range of technical requirements and carrying out the information campaigns to keep the non-EU nationals and the general public well informed. Questions about privacy were raised by both sides. CBP mentioned it was intensively confronted with advocacy groups with regard to the collection of biometrics.

With respect to communication with the public on biometrics collection, US authorities stressed the use of orientation signage at the airport with information about the "screening" technology. They also involved directly the passengers in the pilot projects rolled-out, on voluntary basis. With regard to the use of biometrics, since 2017 the CBP relies particularly on the facial image considering it is fast (2 seconds or less). The technologies used are able to take photos with the mask on and verify the traveler against the library. Overall, CBP claimed they do not depend on entry-exit program for the confirmation of their records and they use more biographic data and passenger information received in advance. Their high interest in using pre-registration applications for the land environment is closely related to the need to gather information on passengers in advance (photo, name, surname and document) and efficiently manage the passenger flows (a pre-registered traveler will be directed to use a separate lane). CBP made a brief introduction on the developments at the US land borders with Mexico, where different pilots were conducted. The results of the last pilot are still being assessed, therefor the EU delegation did not receive concrete information. Very relevant is the main focus on managing queues, wherefore technologies were applied to capture facial images on the move. During the piloting, the success rate of the technology used to capture information while vehicles are passing through the check point in slow speed, doubled in one month. CBP is not confronted with a huge volume of passengers travelling by train, therefore no solution is implemented in this regard (the passengers go out from the train for the border checks). Cooperation with carriers was also mentioned, as being crucial from the very beginning of the entry-exit program and developed in many years. The Privacy/Artificial Intelligence related topic was not covered, but it was agreed to be discussed on a follow up meeting. Virtual follow-up meetings will be organized to address lessons learned in the preparations of the land border, biometrics accuracy, technologies used at the borders for the management of passenger flows. A photo of the entire delegation was published on the US Customs and Border Protection Twitter page. > 6 June: Visit to Washington Dulles International Airport The purpose of the visit to Washington Dulles International Airport was to understand the mechanisms of a live boarding process involving passengers flying to EU. The process seemed to be passenger friendly (children were very receptive to see their facial image automatically taken by the commercial tablet used at the gate). The picture of the passenger is taken and compared in real time with the data gallery exposed in the CBP cloud, while passengers are informed by audio means about the whole process. The procedure is quite fast, not going beyond 2 seconds. The boarding pass or the passport are used for identification only in case of a mismatch of the facial image.

r   7 June: Meeting with the Department of Homeland Security - Office of Biometric Identify Management (OBIM) The meeting was extremely technical, included an exchange of ideas about public tenders in the area of biometrics, multivendor biometric architecture, collaboration with research institutes, accuracy rates for biometrics, testing, governance of the identity management, Interoperability components in FU. DHS invests a lot in human resources and uses teams for assessing different topics at different stages (such as a biometric accuracy team, with the aim to have real-time accuracy results) US representatives informed that contractors are given access to biometric data for testing purposes only, based on a clearance procedure. OBIM will provide the EU participants a presentation of the lessons learned, to be used for training purposes. A follow-up virtual meeting will be organized in the incoming weeks to continue the discussion on how to address questions related to biometric accuracy measurement. Eu-lisa and OBIM agreed to extend their cooperation in the area of identity management, namely by sharing their experience in addressing challenges. The Biometrics Institute Annual Congress planned for 26-27 of October 2022 in London is an event focusing on biometric challenges which will gather worldwide biometric experts, OBIM representatives will be sharing their experience on this event. r 7 June: Meeting at the Delegation of the European Union to the United States headquarter During the meeting at the Delegation of the EU to the US headquarter, the EU MSs representatives were debriefed on the technical discussions with the US counterparts and were informed on the state of play of the EU Interoperability architecture. Eu-LISA's ED presented an update of each EU large-scale system managed by the Agency, referred to the reflections of COM (and eu-LISA) on a gradual roll-out of the EES, touched upon the pilot project related to digitalization of the Schengen visa. A number of questions were clarified by eu-LISA or COM. In reply to BE inquiry about the the status of the Interpol databases within the Interoperability architecture it was explained that it depends on the results of the ongoing negotiations for a Cooperation Agreement EU-lnterpol. In response to citizens 's worries on the ETIAS impact,                            COM referred to the ongoing EES information campaign preparations and the upcoming ETIAS campaign, both aiming to inform the non-EU nationals about the new rights and obligations. COM reassured that the EU delegations will be informed and involved in transmitting the correct information to third countries. A separate Meeting Report including more IT related details was drafted by all participants after the mission. Best regards, European Commission

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