The Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) will be called on Wednesday 19 December to validate an important part of the reform on the interoperability of European information systems in the field of justice and home affairs.
Last week, a fourth trilogue interinstitutional negotiation meeting reached a provisional agreement on two key aspects of the reform, namely access to databases for the identification of third-country nationals and access by police forces to these databases.
These two points were among the most politically "sensitive" and should in theory be endorsed by Member States on Wednesday, a parliamentary source explained on Tuesday 18 December.
At the end of 2017 (see EUROPE 11924), the Commission proposed a single search portal, a multiple identity detector, a common identity repository (CIR) and a shared biometric data matching service. Objective: to facilitate access by police forces and law enforcement agencies of Member States to information held by their neighbours and shared in existing systems (SIS, ECRIS-TCN, VIS, entry/exit, Eurodac, ETIAS).
The partial compromise reached by the European Parliament and Council negotiators thus provides that, in order to obtain identification data from third-country nationals who would not be able to show a 'passport' type document, the competent authorities may have access to the CIR register.
But, according to the Parliament, the Commission's initial proposal was too flexible and offered too quick access to this directory, particularly for purposes other than this identification.
MEPs have introduced several conditions. Police authorities should first be empowered by national law to use the CIR. A person's identity must first be established on the basis of the identity or travel document, following the rules and procedures laid down in national law, before it is possible to launch a search in the CIR using the biometric data of the person concerned. And the CIR will only be available for identification purposes in the presence of the person concerned.
For law enforcement access to systems such as ETIAS, VIS or Eurodac, the current conditions are very strict. The Commission has made them more flexible, with a two-step system, supported by the Council.
However, the Parliament has imposed stricter conditions, in particular to better control the justified reasons for such access.
Other points of the reform remain open and will have to be settled later, such as the deadline for the implementation of these various elements. For the Parliament, this deadline should not exceed 5 years.
VIS. On Wednesday, Member States are also expected to approve their negotiating mandate with the Parliament on the revision of the Visa Information System (VIS).
The legislative revision aims to facilitate the procedure for issuing short-stay visas and to enable the authorities to check quickly and efficiently the necessary information concerning third-country nationals requiring a visa to travel to the EU.
The mandate being the subject of a compromise: - strengthens the security of short-stay visa procedures; included in the long-stay visas and residence permits system, and - ensures the interoperability of the VIS system with other European information systems. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)