Overview
- EU‑LISA filed a civil lawsuit in Harju County, Estonia, on December 22, 2025, against IBM, Atos and Leonardo for repeated missed delivery milestones on the Entry/Exit System.
- The agency says the legal action targets failures during the system’s development and does not affect the EES’s current operation across the 29‑country Schengen area.
- The EES rollout, launched in October 2025, produced software and hardware problems such as fingerprint‑scanner malfunctions that caused long airport queues and some missed flights during peak periods.
- Consortium members formally disputed fines and deadlines in 2021–2022, arguing delays were caused by external factors including the COVID‑19 pandemic and contesting EU‑LISA’s governance of the project.
- The European Anti‑Fraud Office found sufficient elements to open further inquiry into procurement links involving an Atos Moscow office and returned parts of the matter to EU‑LISA for follow‑up while EU‑LISA reports no confirmed security breach.