Schengen Information System: meetings of SIRENE chiefs and operators
- from: 15.10.2008
- to: 17.10.2008
- In: Paris
The Schengen Information System (SIS), a data exchange system, was set up with the purpose of maintaining a security level equivalent to that existing before the removal of checks at internal borders and their transfer to the external borders of the EU. The SIS connects States that apply Schengen cooperation (i.e. almost all European Union Member States and some third countries).
By means of an automatic interrogation procedure, the competent agencies have access to data concerning people, modes of transport (including aircraft and ships) and objects when various controls are carried out. These include external border controls, police or customs inspections inside a country according to its national law, or controls in connection with applications for visas and residence permits. The procedure works of the principle of hit/no hit.
The Schengen Information System comprises a central system, the C.SIS, located in Strasbourg, and national systems, the N.SISs.
Each State also operates a complementary organisational structure to the N.SIS. This is known as the SIRENE Bureau which provides logistical support to SIS end users. The European Council has set up a specific SIS/SIRENE work group called SIRIS. It deals with legal, administrative, financial and organisational SIS questions. It also supervises the implementation of SIS II, the second generation of SIS.
During each Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the SIRENE chiefs and operators meet to share best practices and reach a consensus for preparing the work of the SIRIS group.
These meetings provide an opportunity to help Member States which have recently entered the Schengen Area implement their own SIRENE structures.
- Updated: 26.11.2008
