Division 3.1.1 Fingerprints

CS-EES shall store the fingerprint data from four fingers flat^f1. When available, fingerprints from the following fingers of the right hand shall be used: the index finger, middle finger, ring finger, little finger.

Where it is impossible to obtain any fingerprint using the mentioned fingers of the right hand, the four fingerprints shall be captured from the left hand, where available. In such cases where the impossibility to obtain four fingerprints of the right hands is of a temporary nature, the fingerprint data shall be explicitly marked and, if the temporary impossibility does not exist anymore, the fingerprint data of the right hand shall be taken on exit or at subsequent entry in accordance with the technical specifications referred to in Article 37(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 (temporary impossibility).

In order to meet the applicable threshold, the re-capture of fingerprint data should be undertaken, if necessary, twice for any particular data subject (i.e. a total of three capture attempts should be made). Re-capture attempts should involve use of all fingers as initially attempted.

Fingerprint data that do not meet the applicable quality threshold:

1. (1)

   shall be stored in the CS-EES;

   1. (a)

      biometric verifications shall be done against those data;

   2. (b)

      biometric identifications shall not be done against fingerprints not meeting the quality threshold except in the case of law enforcement purposes;

2. (2)

   shall be flagged by the national system in accordance with the technical specifications referred to in Article 37(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 (technical impossibility) to allow their capture at the next border crossing.

The NIST file sent by national systems to CS-EES and stored there, shall also contain the conditions of fingerprint registration including the level of monitoring carried out by the authorities and the method used for acquiring four finger flat images, as specified by the ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2011: Update 2015 standard^f2 (or newer version).