Today, 25 July, national authorities in Cyprus issued their first alerts in the Schengen Information System (SIS), the most widely used IT system for border management and internal security in Europe.
"This marks a significant landmark for eu-LISA and the European Union, as SIS becomes another large-scale IT system that is used by all EU Member States and Schengen Associated Countries. eu-LISA would like to congratulate all parties involved in reaching this milestone. Without the tight collaboration and dedication shown over the last couple of years, today's successful integration would not have happened," said
Luca Tagliaretti, the Deputy Executive Director of eu-LISA.
With the integration of Cyprus, the total number of SIS users climbs to 34:
- 25 EU Member States and 4 Associated Countries fully operate SIS: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
- Ireland operates SIS, but as it has chosen not to join the Schengen Area, it cannot issue or access Schengen-wide alerts for refusing entry or stay.
- Within their respective mandate, EU Agencies Europol, Eurojust and Frontex have the right to perform searches in SIS.
SIS is the large-scale IT system which supports the exchange of information on objects and persons of interest among national police, border control, customs, visa and judicial authorities within the Schengen Area. SIS holds information in the form of alerts. Each alert on a person of interest can contain biographical information such as name, date of birth, gender and nationality. SIS can also store fingerprints and photographs of the person an alert is related to. Member State authorities query (or search) the system to see if they get a hit matching any of the alerts stored in the system.
Operational since 1995 and taken over by eu-LISA in 2013, SIS has undergone extensive upgrade campaigns throughout the years, and Cyprus, has taken part in the all of them as an observer, making the integration process smoother.
Further to the launch of the
SIS Recast earlier this year, this marks another success on the road to #ASaferEurope!
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