I527-290 ESRIF Final Report (WEB).indd - European Commission

8.3.1.3 New practices and technologies to be used for tracking assets
Securing assets throughout the entire delivery process is a complex problem. The most natural approach is to secure containers
as these are used in all modes of transportation.
In order to improve the security at all levels, more than one technological solution may be implemented, which
however must be developed in a collaborative fashion in order to secure the seamless support of long, trans-national
and global supply chains. Not only the technological dimension, but also the organisational dimension must be
addressed.
The potential technological solutions to be developed are:
Integration of travel and ID documents providing an appropriate level of security and greater effi ciency of the overall supply
chain, including interoperability with existing systems and other systems outside the EU.
RFID-based systems for assets, containers and related seals, in addition to the associated management processes in small
areas, able to be de- and re-activated on demand and by using multi-protocols.
Intelligent sensing solutions (including GNSS9 ) allowing continuous monitoring and tracking of the load unit and its
content in large areas taking into account the whole spectrum of infl uential parameters for commercial, legal, and transport
continuation purposes.
OCR10 systems for the localization and recognition of the standard ISO-codes of containers and for the identifi cation of
truck/lorry licence plates and railway wagon codes.
Advanced technology for detecting and tracing hazardous materials, like plasmonic, photonic, or Quartz crystal microbalance
technologies.
8.3.2 Better planning
8.3.2.1 Moving towards automation of border control and other key application areas
The border control domain faces increasingly sophisticated requirements and demands with the ongoing implementation
of new procedures and processes and new and more effi cient technologies to ensure that legacy systems and processes are
appropriately updated or replaced.
One of the key factors in the successful achievement of this goal is better long-term planning and consideration given to
change management vis-a-vis these new systems. Failure to plan and build effi ciency into systems from the start will result in
major user satisfaction and management issues.
This gives more weight to process effi ciency and provides for overall cost savings. But at the same time, ensuring that the law
enforcement requirements and civil security initiatives are respected remains the principal objective.
Customer service and fraud reduction business cases increasingly leverage technologies enhancing both security and
convenience, such as improved x-ray scanners, RFID and biometrics.
Biometrics, for example, can be used to:
Expedite pre-vetted, registered travellers or users (for example employees) through inter alia border control points or fast
track lanes at border crossing points.
Help reduce fraud prevention within high risk caseloads such as refugee and asylum processing.
Help reduce fraud prevention in critical processes such as immigration and citizenship.
Provide eff ective and fl exible watchlists which enable greater effi ciency and thorough security processing.
Process the majority of travellers through automated e-gates.
Many of these systems/solutions will be expensive, although not prohibitively.
9 Global Navigation Satellite System
10 Optical Character Recognition
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