Luxembourg, 04/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - After a lengthy debate, home ministers of the EU and of Schengen Area partner countries pledged, on Thursday 4 June, to pursue development of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), a common police database containing biometric elements of identification. “We have come to the unanimous decision to continue the SIS II project with a number of milestones to be respected”, the Czech home minister, Martin Pecina, said during a press conference. “If these are not respected, it will be necessary to put an end to the project and move on to Plan B”, he added. In order to ensure that there will be no further mishaps in setting up the system, member states are careful to ensure they keep the possibility of using a safety-net solution, called “SIS I + RE”, which consists of modernisation of the current system. Created in 1990, the SIS is an indexing system common to the 25 countries that belong to the Schengen Area, aimed at centralising and facilitating the exchange of information held by police authorities. It contains over 28 million pieces of information, including over 22 million relating to stolen goods. Some 1.2 million people - undesirables, those sought by justice - are registered in the system. SIS II, which is an extremely complex project, aims to strengthen the system for identifying persons thanks to the storage of biometric data (fingerprints and photos).
Last chance for SIS II. The date for operational launching of SIS II has been set for end September 2011, i.e. over 4 years after the date originally foreseen. In order to keep to this new timetable, several tests are expected this autumn and in spring 2010. Although all member states have decided to pursue the SIS II adventure, two countries especially - Austria and Germany - consider the project has already taken a sufficient amount of time and cost enough money to allow any further setbacks to be avoided. It is for this reason that the EU countries decided that, if the SIS II did not reach a successful conclusion, it would be necessary to foresee an alternative solution that could be implemented in due course. During debates in Council, member states clarified matters. Although the various stages of setting SIS II in place have not been reached, the Council will invite the Commission to put an end to the system's development and move on to an alternative solution unless the Council comes to a different decision within two months. “If we do not have results by October, it will be necessary to seriously contemplate discarding SIS II”, a diplomatic source said.
The alternative solution. In parallel to the development of SIS II, member states will adapt the legal instruments necessary for improving the current system (SIS I+). The new system, called “SIS 1+RE), in which biometric elements would also be incorporated, should be ready during the fourth quarter of 2012. Whatever system is chosen, integration into SIS 1+ of countries out of the Schengen Area (Ireland, United Kingdom, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania and Liechtenstein) may nonetheless take place, in July 2011 with the SIS II and at the end of 2011 with the “SIS 1+RE”. In the same way, the development of either system will not have a significant budgetary effect as the spending required for both scenarios is practically the same (about €45 million). On the other hand, if development of SIS II were to be stopped, the budget could be seriously affected. The EU could lose about €20 million if it put an end to the contracts relating to development of the central SIS II system. Cessation of SIS II could also slow down start-up of the Visa Information System (VIS). (B.C./transl.jl)