Migration Law
Schengen Information System
by Konrad Wilk
Schengen Information System
• History and legal background
• Schengen Information System (SIS)
functioning
• Potential problems about data
protection
• Evoluation of the System (SIS II)
SCHENGEN INFORMATION SYSTEM
(SIS) – WHAT IS IT?
• Governmental database used by European
countries
• Main purposes:
-maintain, source and distribute information
on individuals and pieces of property of
interest in order to protect national security,
to control internal bordel and to counter any
potential threat
Map of Schengen Area Member States
Full Schengen members (EU
member states which have
implemented the Schengen
Agreement)
Associated Schengen
members (non-EU member
states which have
implemented the Schengen
Agreement)
EU member states which
are bound to implement the
Schengen Agreement but who
have not done so yet)
EU member states outside
the Schengen Area
History and legal background
• Treaty of Rome, 1957
• Treaty instituting the economic Union of the Benelux
countries, 1958
• The Agreement of Saabrucken, 1984
• Schengen Agreement of June 14, 1985
(plus Convention implementing the Schengen
Agreement enacted 5 years later)
• Amsterdam Treaty, 1997
• Directive on the right of citizens of the Union and their
family members to move and reside freely within the
territory of the Member States 2004/38/EC
SIS functioning
• What types of information are stored in SIS?
• Article 94 (from Convention Implementing The
Schengen Agreement)
• The Schengen Information System shall contain
only the categories of data which are supplied by
each of the Contracting Parties and are required
for the purposes laid down in Articles 95 to
100(for instance data relating to persons wanted
for arrest for extradition purposes, data relating
to aliens who are reported for the purposes of
being refused entry)
SIS functioning
• Art.. 94 (2)
• Two categories of data:
(a) persons reported
(b) objects referred to in Article 100- Data
relating to objects sought for the purposes of
seizure or of evidence in criminal proceedings,
Information System and vehicles referred to in
Article 99- Data relating to persons or vehicles for
the purposes of discreet surveillance or specific
checks
SIS functioning
• Art. 94 (3).
• The items included in respect of persons, shall be no more than the
following:
(a) name and forename, any aliases possibly registered separately;
(b) any particular objective and permanent physical features;
(c) first letter of second forename;
(d) date and place of birth;
(e) sex;
(f) nationality;
(g) whether the persons concerned are armed;
(h) whether the persons concerned are violent;
(i) reason for the report;
(j) action to be taken.
SIS functioning
• Moreover, other references, in particular the
data listed in Article 6, first sentence of the
Council of Europe Convention of 28 January
1981 for the Protection of Individuals with
regard to Automatic Processing of Personal
Data, shall not be authorized (racial origin,
political opinions, religious beliefs).
Potential problems about data
protection
• LEGISLATION0 WHAT KIND OF PROTECTION?
• HOW LONG PERSONAL INFORMATION MAY BE
PROCESSED SIS?
• WHO HAS ACCESS TO INFORMATION
PROCESSED IN SIS?
• WHAT ARE THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS IN
RELATION TO THE PROCESSING OF THEIR
PERSONAL DATA IN THE SIS?
LEGISLATION
• CONVENTION APPLYING THE SCHENGEN
AGREEMENT (art.116,126,127)
- the right to protection of personal data is
guaranteed by law as a fundamental right
- additional or auxiliary regulations should not
affect or impair the rights or competence of
the national supervisory authority of the SIS
Bilateral and multilateral Agreement
- between Member States and third countriesregulated by international law
- all bilateral and multilateral agreements with
third countries for the processing of data in
the framework of police and judicial
cooperation in criminal matters should
provide that data must be processed in
accordance with the requirements of the
Schengen acquis
Obligation to appoint national
supervisory authority
• - Art. 114 (1)
Each Contracting Party shall designate a supervisory
authority responsible, in compliance with national law, for
carrying out independent supervision of the data file of
the national section of the Schengen Information System
and for checking that the processing and utilization of data
included in the Schengen Information System are not in
violation of the rights of the person concerned. For this
purpose the supervisory authority shall have access to the
data file of the national section of the Schengen
Information System.
HOW LONG PERSONAL INFORMATION MAY BE
PROCESSED IN SCHENGEN INFORMATION
SYSTEM?
• Article 112
• 1. Personal data for the purposes of locating persons shall be kept only for
the time required to achieve the purposes for which they were supplied.
No later than three years after their inclusion, the need for their
retention must be reviewed by the reporting Contracting Party. This period
shall be one year in the case of reports referred to in Article 99(for
instance where there are real indications to suggest that the person
concerned intends to commit or is committing numerous and extremely
serious offences)
• 2. Each of the Contracting Parties shall, where appropriate, set shorter
review periods in accordance with its national law.
THE MAXIMUM PERIOD OF TIME WHEN
THE PERSONAL INFORMATION MAY BE
STORED IN SCHENGEN INFORMATION
SYSTEM
• Article 113 (1)
-Data other than those referred to in Article 112
shall be retained for a maximum of ten years,
data relating to identity documents issued and to
registered bank notes for a-maximum of five
years and those relating toymotor vehicles,
trailers and caravans for a maximum of three
years.
WHO HAS ACCESS TO INFORMATION PROCESSED IN
SCHENGEN INFORMATION SYSTEM?
• Art. 101 (1,2,3)
• (1) Access to data included in the Schengen
Information System and the right to search
such data directly shall be reserved exclusively
for the authorities responsible for :
(a) border checks;
(b) other police and customs checks carried
out within the country, and the coordination of such checks.
WHAT ARE THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS IN
RELATION TO THE PROCESSING OF THEIR
PERSONAL DATA IN THE SIS?
• The right of any person to have access to data
relating to him- art. 109 (1)
• Any person may have factually inaccurate data
relating to him corrected or have legally
inaccurate data relating to him deletedArticle 110
WHAT ARE THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS IN
RELATION TO THE PROCESSING OF THEIR
PERSONAL DATA IN THE SIS?
• Article 111 (1)
Any person may, in the territory of each
Contracting Party, bring before the courts or
the authority competent under national law
an action to correct, delete or provide
information or obtain compensation in
connection with a report concerning him.
WHAT IS THE SIRENE OFFICE?
• Art. 108 (1,2)
Each of the Contracting Parties shall designate
an authority which shall have central
responsibility for the national section of SIS.
In Poland this function is assigned to The
Inspector General for Personal Data
Protection.
Evoluation of the system
SIS II
• Currently in progress- should be in operation
in second half of 2013
• Proposals:
- possibility to use biometrics
- new types of alerts
- the possibility to link different alerts (such as
an alert on a person and a vehicle)
- ensure stronger data protection
Evoluation of the system
SIS II
These two texts lay the legal foundations for the
Schengen Information System II
- 2001/886/JHA: Council Decision of 6 December
2001 on the development of the second
generation Schengen Information System (SIS II)
- 13.12.2001, p. 1] and Council Regulation (EC)
No 2424/2001 of 6 December 2001 on the
development of the second generation Schengen
Information System (SIS II)
Sources:
• http://www.giodo.gov.pl
• http://www.consilium.europa.eu
• http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/whatwe-do/policies/borders-and-visas/schengeninformation-system/index_en.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Infor
mation_System