Spain, Airports and border posts including Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Málaga, Alicante, Tenerife Sur
Spanish National Police
Automated border control (ABC) gates with facial and fingerprint comparison
OperationalOfficial publicationPAI-31B72A64
- Body
- Spanish National Police
- Country
- Spain
- Area
- Airports and border posts including Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Málaga, Alicante, Tenerife Sur
- Technology
- Automated border control (ABC) gates with facial and fingerprint comparison
- Supplier
- Not stated in the source
- Programme
- ABC System
- Status
- Operational
In routine use by the named body, on the evidence of a public source. - Stage
- In use now
- Since
- 2010
- Legal basis
- Not stated in the source
- Oversight
- Not stated in the source
- Evidence
- Official publication
Police force, government department or public body publication - Source
- Aena press release, 28 December 2017
- Last checked
- Record code
PAI-31B72A64
Notes
The ABC System is Spain's automated border control, which an Aena press release of 28 December 2017 describes as carried out by the Policía Nacional across its network of airports, in agreement with the Ministry of the Interior and the Dirección General de la Policía. Eligible travellers (over 18, holding an electronic ID card or passport, resident in a Schengen country) pass a booth that checks the document and makes a biometric check of the face and/or fingerprints, in about 20 seconds. The release announced a €90 million, four-year framework agreement with Everis, Telefónica Ingeniería de Seguridad, Indra and Informática El Corte Inglés/Gemalto for up to 652 units for the 22 Aena airports with most international traffic, and said about 80 units were already in use at Madrid-Barajas, Barcelona-El Prat, Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Alicante-Elche and Tenerife Sur; suppliers need a Policía Nacional certificate. The system began as a six-month pilot at Barcelona and Madrid-Barajas announced by the Interior Ministry and the Secretariat of State for Transport on 13 May 2010 (Aena). Maldita (19 August 2021), citing the Ministry's 2018 information, lists more than 450 booths, including at Girona airport, the port of Algeciras and the La Línea crossing with Gibraltar. Canarian Weekly (7 October 2025) reports 208 ABC gates at six Canary Islands airports, in the run-up to the EU Entry/Exit System, and an Interior Ministry investment of €83 million nationwide; it does not name the operator. El Debate (12 October 2025) reports that Policía Nacional officers, including the head of its Unidad Central de Fronteras, supervised the first Entry/Exit System booths at Madrid-Barajas.
Other systems used by Spanish National Police
| Deployment | Country | Supplier | Since | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish National PoliceAI Report Analysis | SpainSpain, national | VeriPol | 2018 | Discontinued | |
| Spanish National PoliceABIS automated biometric identification system, facial search | SpainSpain, national | Thales (Cogent algorithm), as reported by Xataka | 2023 | Operational |