Home Secretary David Blunkett has confirmed plans to introduce electronic border controls for the UK - a project first revealed by Computing in May.

A £15m pilot scheme, called Project Semaphore, is already underway. The initiative will be the first phase of the full eBorders scheme, and will initially target six million passengers a year flying into the UK.

Passengers will be recorded electronically as they enter and leave the country to provide a 'comprehensive audit trail' for the UK authorities.

Eventually, eBorders will extend UK border control outside the country, requiring travel companies such as airlines and ferry companies to gain approval for passengers to travel in real-time, before they depart from their country of origin.

'Secure and effective border controls are vital to the UK in the 21st century,' said Blunkett.

'To do this the government intends to bring in its ambitious eBorders programme - a modernised border control programme using cutting edge technology, which will work alongside biometric ID cards from 2008 onwards. This will further secure the UK's borders by efficiently recording people travelling into and out of the UK, using airline reservation information and capturing passengers' biometric data,' he said.

'Project Semaphore, which will be underway by the end of the year, is a key first step in putting in place comprehensive electronic analysis of passenger travel data, which will be crucial to being able to register entry and exit without gross inconvenience to passengers.'

To read Computing's previous coverage of the eBorders programme, click on the links provided below.

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