STATUS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION'S SCHENGEN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001128 CA FOR CAIP DHS FOR OIA SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS PTEL EU SUBJECT: STATUS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION'S SCHENGEN INFORMATION SYSTEM BORDER CONTROL MECHANISMS ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: As the EU contends with enlargement, one of the major issues continues to be monitoring who is leaving and entering Europe in a changing border context. To contend with this, the Schengen Information System (SIS) is undergoing a number of changes to expand from its initial iteration to a more technologically sustainable second generation system. SIS has two major components-- that of border control and law enforcement. This cable will focus on intiatives in border control END SUMMARY SIS I ¶2. (U) SIS I, the first iteration of the Schengen Information System, was designed to cover a far smaller area than it does today, post-enlargement. It is a computer system whose purpose is to collect, catalog and distribute traveler information throughout the Schengen states. The current system was designed to cover eighteen states, but the computer technology on which it is based is now outdated and cannot handle the current twenty-four states. Schengen member states decided that extending this original version of the system to other countries would compromise the operational stability of the system and may prove technically impossible. SIS I currently stores only "alphanumeric" data (letters and numbers),such as name, sex, age, nationality and criminal record. ¶3. (U) Very often these details are not enough to give authorities the information they need. Each member state holds this information on persons who are the subject of its alerts on SIS in a national database known as SIRENE (an acronym for Supplementary Iformation Request at the National Entry). These databases are under the control of national SIRENE bureaus and the information on all these databases is accessible to law enforcement agencies in all Schengen member states upon request. SIRENE, though an essential function of the SIS system, had no mention in the 1990 Convention that established SIS, and originally had no legal basis. There are now provisions requiring each Schengen state to designate a national SIRENE bureau to be responsible for the protection and exchange of this information in accordance with EU-wide standards. SIS II ¶4. (U) This second generation system continues to be delayed, but is anticipated to be fully operational by mid-2009. The system will have a more up-to-date computer system that will be able to contend with the increasing number of Schengen states and will also collect biometric data on travelers. ¶5. (U) The major improvements between SIS I and SIS II are the categories of data storied in the system. Namely, these will include biometric data, such as fingerprint and photographic data, and, in the future, potentially DNA profiles and retina scans. SIS One4All ¶6. (U) While the SIS II system is developed and SIS I remains inadequate, a number of new member states have joined the Schengen acquis and have been anxious to be fully integrated in to "borderless" Europe. SIS One4All was created to address the gap left by SIS II's drastic delay from its original proposed implmentation date of October 2007. Presented by Portugal, SIS One4All is a temporary compromise technology that allowed new member states timely entry into the Schengen acquis while awaiting full implementation of the more robust SIS II. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, and Slovenia are the European Union member states currently using SIS One4All. VIS ¶7. (U) The EU is creating a Visa Information System (VIS) which will be based on a centralized architecture and consist of a central information system, referred to as the Central Visa Information System (CS-VIS),an interface in each member state, referred to as the National Interface (NI-VIS) which will provide the connection to the relevant central national authority of the respective member state, and the communication infrastructure between CS-VIS and NI-VIS. The purpose of VIS is to improve the implementation of a common visa policy and enhance consular cooperation and cosultation between central visa authorities by enhancing the exchange of data between Member States on visa applications. Doing this the EU hopes to limit the possibility of fraud and "visa BRUSSELS 00001128 002 OF 002 shopping" from country to country. ¶8. (U) There are current initiatives to tie the VIS database to the anticipated SIS II database. While these projects are not yet fully operational, the ultimate EU design aims to incorporate all biometric entry and exit information into a central, accessible database. The stand-alone VIS is expected to be operational by May 2009. SILVERBERG .