On 17 February 2021, eu-LISA took part in an online Interoperability Conference that reunited Member States, the European Commission, JHA Agencies and part of the Agency's governance structure.
As a follow up to the 2020 event organised by the Swedish and Finnish Smart Border Team, this edition of the conference will focus on the implementation of Interoperability Regulations at Member State level, taking into account the legal, operational and technical developments since the Helsinki Conference last year.
The conference is a joint effort of the Interoperability Programme Management Board (IO PMB; started operations in October 2019), eu-LISA and the Hungarian Smart Borders Team.
Zsolt Szolnoki, chairperson of eu-LISA's Management Board, and head of the Hungarian Smart Borders Team, declared: "The proper and timely implementation of the Interoperability Regulations is a key element in finalising the whole Interoperability Programme by the end of 2023. Today, we are providing a platform for the Member States' projects to learn from each other how to best use this new tool in border, law enforcement, visa and immigration procedures."
"I believe we all see Borders & Security as well as Interoperability conferences from the past as a very valuable and important fora for the exchange of information and good practice between Member States. These are very important for the successful implementation of the Interoperability project and help Member States strengthen their cooperation which, ultimately, is also one of the key factors for the success of the Interoperability programme", complemented Andrej Bračko, chairperson of the IO PMB.
The aim of the conference is to support Member States in understanding and implementing all Interoperability-related projects, in order to meet the 2023 go-live deadline.
As Interoperability will span all large-scale IT systems, the event brought together legal, operation and technical experts from the Interoperability teams of eu-LISA and the Member States, from the EES, ETIAS, ECRIS-TCN, SIS and VIS teams, from the European Commission, as well as Member States'/JHA Agencies project managers and eu-LISA Management Board members.
Topics addressed included the best use of the new interoperability architecture at Member State level and how to resolve the challenge of parallel developments for the Interoperability Components and for the new large-scale IT systems (EES, ETIAS, ECRIS-TCN).
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