On Tuesday 12 June, the negotiators from the European Parliament and Council agreed on the outlines of the reform of the Schengen Information System (SIS) that the Commission proposed at the end of 2016, by means of three regulations, better adapting to the prevention of terrorist offences and crimes, and also by enhancing its function of helping the return of migrants in an irregular situation (see EUROPE 11965).
The negotiators agreed on this basis on the creation of new alert categories in the SIS: - alerts issued for the purposes of inquiry checks; - alerts on unknown persons who are wanted in connection with a crime, which provide for the introduction in the SIS of digital fingerprints or palm prints discovered at the scene of serious crimes or terrorist violations which are considered as belonging to a perpetrator; - preventive alerts for children subject to a risk of parental abduction, as well as vulnerable people and children who must be prevented from travelling for their own protection; - alerts for the purposes of return, which involve the introduction in the SIS of an alert as soon as a decision on return is delivered, which should enable a better exchange of information between the member states.
The rules also provide for making territory bans issued by member states obligatory in the SIS. Alerts should also be created for radicalised people and foreign fighters.
Facial images will also be able to be integrated in the SIS, particularly for border controls. It also allows "a genetic identification profile" to be entered in order to facilitate the identification of missing persons.
Europol will be able to access all the SIS categories of data. The new European Border and Coast Guard Agency will also be able to access the alert categories in the SIS, but its access will remain regulated and limited, according to one source.
According to different sources close to the issue, the European Parliament succeeded in imposing certain steps forward. The authorities that have access to these data will therefore have to be irreproachable on the level of data protection; alerts targeting children will also have to take care of the risks of gender-based violence of which the children can be victim, like genital mutilation or forced marriages.
The European Parliament will have to be consulted on cases in which the member states would like to expand the use of facial images, and biometric data, like the DNA profile, which will only be used when necessary. The implementation of these new rules will be spread out, but over a maximum of three years. An annual assessment will be made of their functioning and cost. The alerts in connection with terrorism will have to be applicable immediately. The European Border and Coast Guard Agency will have better access to statistics in order to produce risk analyses, but it will only have limited access to the SIS. Europol and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency will furthermore be assessed on their way of using the SIS. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)