Border-free travel – new EU control system (SIS II)

 

SUMMARY OF:

Council Regulation (EU) No 1273/2012 - migration from the Schengen Information System (SIS 1+) to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II)

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE REGULATION?

• The regulation recasts into a single act the 2 legislative acts (Regulation (EC) No 1104/2008 and Council Decision 2008/839/JHA) that governed the migration from the first-generation Schengen Information System (SIS1+) to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II).
• The reason for this recast is:
  • that the Lisbon Treaty had in the meantime abolished the pillar structure of the previous Treaties which required two separate acts and
  • at the same time, that it was felt necessary to include in the legal framework some additional flexibility to face the costs relating to the complex migration process still under way.

KEY POINTS

The 2 previous legislative acts — part of the text of which had become obsolete and could not be amended in their previous form — are merged into a single legal instrument, in accordance with the Lisbon Treaty.

In addition to the recast of the 2 previous acts, the regulation integrates changes in form as well as content in order to take into account the complex migration process that is under way.

What is new about SIS II?

• It is a more up-to-date system offering additional functionalities.
• Among other improvements, it allows the use of biometrics, new types of alerts and the possibility to link different alerts, such as an alert on a person and a vehicle.
• The development of this state-of-the-art IT system as one of the largest of its kind worldwide required a longer time frame due to the changing legal, technical and political environment as well as rigorous testing phases to ensure a high level of performance and security.

Testing of SIS II

• For the SIS II to become fully operational, a battery of tests is planned for a long preparatory phase prior to its activation — including a comprehensive test involving the testing of all the key SIS II components.
• The success of this test is both a technical and legal precondition for the entry into force of the SIS II.

Switchover to the new system

• Within the switchover period, after the loading of data from SIS 1+ into SIS II via a converter, all participating EU countries, consecutively, perform their individual switchover of the national application from SIS 1+ into SIS II.
• A country that has switched over should be able to rapidly use the full scope of SIS II from the time of the switchover and not have to wait until other participating EU countries have also switched over. The switchover period should therefore be kept as short as possible, and should not exceed 12 hours.

Monitoring phase to test the system

• In order to ensure that the new system is reliable and to better manage potential difficulties in migration, both systems coexist and remain synchronised via a converter during a limited transitional period.
• The application of certain provisions of Title IV of the Schengen Convention is maintained on a temporary basis by incorporating those provisions into this regulation, as they provide the legal framework for the converter and the interim migration architecture during the migration.

Financing and costs arising from migration

• In view of the fact that an important part of the activities that are now required at participating country level for the migration to SIS II were not anticipated at the time when the 2008 Regulation and Decision were adopted or at the time when the financial package and the multiannual programmes under the External Borders Fund (EBF) were drawn up, the distribution of costs are partly realigned.
• Certain specific and well-defined national activities related to the migration, in particular testing activities, could be co-financed from the SIS II budget line of the EU’s general budget, in so far as they would be complementary and would not coincide with other SIS II-related actions which would continue to be supported under the EBF.

Territorial provisions

For reasons of legal clarity, due to the fact that these 2 EU countries do not take part in the Schengen acquis* of which this regulation constitutes a development, a separate and parallel regulation has been adopted, applicable only in Ireland and the United Kingdom .

FROM WHEN DOES THE REGULATION APPLY?

The regulation applies since 30 December 2012. It expires upon the termination of the migration as set out in the regulation.

BACKGROUND

The Schengen Information System (SIS) was initially set up to apply the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 between the governments of the countries of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders.

The SIS further developed as SIS 1+ as the Schengen acquis was integrated into the framework of the European Union following the Treaty of Amsterdam. The system contained information on persons who may have been involved in serious crimes or who may not have the right to enter or stay in the EU. It also contained alerts on missing persons, in particular children, as well as information on vehicles, firearms, bank notes and identity documents that may have been stolen, misappropriated or lost.

With rapid technological development and the geographical extension of the SIS, a second generation SIS (‘SIS II’) became necessary. SIS II was established by Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 and by Decision 2007/533/JHA.

All EU countries taking part in the SIS II successfully finished the test phase in 2013. This allowed to switch over permanently to SIS II on 9 April 2013. On 9 May 2013, the European Agency for the operational management of large scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA) took over responsibility for the day-to-day running of the SIS II central system.

For further information:

• Schengen Information System (European Commission)
• Questions and Answers: Schengen Information System (SIS II) (European Commission).

KEY TERMS

MAIN DOCUMENT

Council Regulation (EU) No 1273/2012 of 20 December 2012 on migration from the Schengen Information System (SIS 1+) to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) (recast) (OJ L 359, 29.12.2012, pp. 32-44)

RELATED DOCUMENTS

Regulation (EC) No 1986/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 regarding access to the Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) by the services in the Member States responsible for issuing vehicle registration certificates (OJ L 381, 28.12.2006, pp. 1-3)

Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on the establishment, operation and use of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) (OJ L 381, 28.12.2006, pp. 4-23)

Council Decision 2007/533/JHA of 12 June 2007 on the establishment, operation and use of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) (OJ L 205, 7.8.2007, pp. 63-84)

Regulation (EU) No 1077/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2011 establishing a European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (OJ L 286, 1.11.2011, pp. 1-17)

last update 17.10.2017