Netherlands, Schiphol
Koninklijke Marechaussee
Self Service Passport Control e-gates with face comparison
OperationalParliamentary recordPAI-D9E13300
- Body
- Koninklijke Marechaussee
- Country
- Netherlands
- Area
- Schiphol
- Technology
- Self Service Passport Control e-gates with face comparison
- Supplier
- Not stated in the source
- Status
- Operational
In routine use by the named body, on the evidence of a public source. - Stage
- In use now
- Since
- 2012
- Legal basis
- Article 107b of the Vreemdelingenwet 2000, inserted by the Act of 11 June 2025 (Stb. 2025, 175), in force from 9 July 2025, which provides a basis for processing biometric data for identification and identity verification in automated border control and caps retention at 24 hours. The 2023 explanatory memorandum says that when SSPC entered use in 2012 its data were processed under the Wet politiegegevens.
- Oversight
- One border guard directly supervises six e-gates, can override them and carries out a manual check when a gate refuses or flags a traveller; the government states that a failed recognition is never a final decision.
- Evidence
- Parliamentary record
Hansard, committee evidence, written answers - Source
- Staatscourant, 28 February 2023 (Raad van State advice and bill)
- Last checked
- Record code
PAI-D9E13300
Notes
Staatscourant 2023, no. 4199 (28 February 2023) publishes the Raad van State's advice of 5 October 2022, the government's response of 31 January 2023 and a bill to add article 107b to the Vreemdelingenwet 2000; it states that the Koninklijke Marechaussee uses the Self Service Passport Control (SSPC) system at Schiphol, where e-gates compare a camera face scan with the photo on the passport chip and run a liveness check, and that SSPC entered use in 2012. The algorithm is licensed from a "gerenommeerde Europese leverancier" that is not named for security reasons. The Raad van State asked whether skin colour and sex affect accuracy; the government cited a 2013 University of Twente study indicating poorer performance for some groups, said the 2013 algorithm had since been substantially replaced, and referred to a TNO study then under way. The bill was adopted by the Eerste Kamer on 10 June 2025 and became the Act of 11 June 2025 (Stb. 2025, 175), in force from 9 July 2025 (Eerste Kamer dossier 36300; Nederlands Juristenblad).