CONNECTOR’s vision is to contribute to European Integrated Border Management (EIBM) and the EU Customs Action Plan by addressing the need for close cooperation between Customs, Border and Coast Guard Authorities in the context of the challenging environment of border control, both currently and in the future. This can be met by further involving Customs in the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) network and the Enhanced Common Information Sharing Environment (e-CISE). To meet this need, CONNECTOR is developing the Customs Extended Common Information Sharing Environment (CE-CISE).

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CONNECTOR aims, for the first time, to suggest an integrated, common and shared risk assessment approach for all Border Management Authorities, taking into account the pan-EU common risk indicators for each of the end user groups – Customs, Border and Coast Guard Authorities, including FRONTEX. This will ensure the security of external EU borders, protect EU citizens from cross-border crime and support the seamless flow of travel and goods, as recommended in the multi-annual strategic policy document. 

 

The results of the two year project will be the design and development of the CONNECTOR system, or CE-CISE. Importantly, the technological solutions will be interoperable with the existing CISE systems and will provide an improved level of situational awareness and a Common Operational Picture, which will ultimately support better-informed decision-making by national and joint response incident commanders.

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Customs Extended Common Information Sharing Environment (CE-CISE)

CE-CISE will deliver an integrated, shared risk assessment approach with Command and Control System Instances for each end user group, ensuring effective management of EU external borders at operational, tactical & strategic levels. The end result will facilitate close and practical cooperation and information exchange, crucially at both inter-agency and trans-national levels, leading to safer borders for Europe.

 

The design and the development of the CONNECTOR system will be based on the analysis of current policy initiatives in EU level (directives, policy and staff documents, guidelines etc.) along with needs, gaps and future views of the end-user groups going beyond previous initiatives (ANDROMEDA, MARISA, EFFECTOR, etc.), complying with the Societal, Ethical and Legal (SoEL) requirements and regulations, following the SoEL-by-design principle. 

 

To confirm its relevance and value for end users, the CONNECTOR system will be tested and validated in real operational environments, using challenging scenarios based on well-defined national, cross-border and trans-national use cases, as defined commonly by Customs and Border and Coast Guards authorities, during three long-duration trials (Demonstration and Testing) under standardised methodology.