TORONTO — The European Union is taking legal action against three companies involved in developing its new border entry/exit system, following delays and technical problems during the rollout.

According to The Guardian, the EU’s IT agency, EU-Lisa, filed a lawsuit last year against IBM, French IT company Atos and Italian defence contractor Leonardo. The three companies formed a consortium responsible for implementing and maintaining the Entry/Exit System (EES), which launched in October 2025.

The legal action was disclosed in EU-Lisa’s latest annual accounts, which said the agency had activated contractual and legal measures to protect its financial interests following delays in the consortium’s delivery of the system. A claim was submitted to a court in Estonia on Dec. 22, 2025.

The EES rollout has been plagued by technical issues, including malfunctioning airport kiosks and system outages. The problems, combined with staffing shortages at border checkpoints, have contributed to lengthy queues, with some travellers reportedly missing flights during peak periods.

EU-Lisa said the legal proceedings concern the system’s development phase and do not affect its current operation, adding that the EES is fully operational. The European Commission also said it was not involved in the case and that the lawsuit relates to delivery delays during development rather than the system’s current operation.

The EES requires travellers from outside the Schengen area to have their photographs taken and fingerprints scanned when entering participating European countries. The system applies to non-citizens of the 29 Schengen countries, as well as Ireland and Cyprus.