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The Council of the European Union approved on Tuesday, 10 February, the accession of UK to SIS II, one of the three large-scale IT systems managed by eu-LISA. Subsequently, from 13 April 2015 the UK shall enter data into SIS II and use SIS II data. The Second Generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) provides law enforcement alerts on wanted criminals, suspected terrorists, missing people, and stolen or missing property. The IT system is already used by 28 European countries. Since April 2013, UK has worked closely with eu-LISA to achieve technical readiness for the accession to SIS II. The support extended by eu-LISA to the UK authorities comprised testing, training of national staff and setting up the workflow for the exchange of information.
The SIS II provides for sharing of 'alerts' on five main categories of persons or objects: persons wanted for arrest for surrender or extradition purposes (mainly linked to the European Arrest Warrant); missing persons; persons sought to assist with a judicial procedure; persons and objects subject to discreet or specific checks (i.e. police surveillance); and objects for seizure or use as evidence in criminal proceedings. SISII is a highly targeted IT system, focussing only on those individuals involved in the criminal law process, or police surveillance, or banned from entry from the EU's territory. SIS II does not provide for a basis for sharing criminal records or various other categories of criminal law data. The system provides real-time alerts to speed up the exchange of information.
eu-LISA is responsible for running the SIS II Central System and keeping it operational 24/7, allowing national authorities to constantly exchange and share information. eu-LISA is also responsible for implementing security measures, training on the technical use of the system, producing related statistics and reports as well as monitoring relevant research.
