EU sues IBM and two European companies over troubled border system, FT reports

The EU’s agency for managing major IT systems, EU-Lisa, has sued IBM, France’s Atos and Italy’s Leonardo over repeated delays in developing the bloc’s Entry/Exit System (EES), according to a Financial Times report. The case concerns delays during development; EU-Lisa said it has no impact on the system’s current operation.

The EES electronically records when non-EU nationals enter and leave the Schengen area, which covers 29 countries, and is intended to identify visa overstayers, combat identity fraud and curb illegal migration. EU-Lisa awarded a six-year contract to a consortium including IBM Belgium, Atos Belgium and Leonardo in 2019. Atos Belgium and IBM Belgium later disputed a fine and argued that external factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic, caused delays; the companies also challenged revised deadlines in 2022. Reuters said it could not immediately verify the report.