Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of border checks, and amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, and amending and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006
Modified by
  • Regulation (EU) 2019/817 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 20 May 2019on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of borders and visa and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2016/399, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240, (EU) 2018/1726 and (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Decisions 2004/512/EC and 2008/633/JHA, 32019R0817, May 22, 2019
  • Regulation (EU) 2021/1152 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 7 July 2021amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240, (EU) 2018/1860, (EU) 2018/1861 and (EU) 2019/817 as regards the establishment of the conditions for accessing other EU information systems for the purposes of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, 32021R1152, July 14, 2021
Corrected by
  • Corrigendum to Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of border checks, and amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, and amending and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006, 32018R1861R(03), September 3, 2020
Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Councilof 28 November 2018on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of border checks, and amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement, and amending and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 CHAPTER IGENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1General purpose of SISThe purpose of SIS shall be to ensure a high level of security within the area of freedom, security and justice of the Union, including the maintenance of public security and public policy and the safeguarding of security in the territories of the Member States, and to ensure the application of the provisions of Chapter 2 of Title V of Part Three TFEU relating to the movement of persons on their territories, using information communicated through this system.
Article 2Subject matter1.This Regulation establishes the conditions and procedures for the entry and processing of alerts in SIS on third-country nationals and for the exchange of supplementary information and additional data for the purpose of refusing entry into and stay on the territory of the Member States.2.This Regulation also lays down provisions on the technical architecture of SIS, on the responsibilities of the Member States and of the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA), on data processing, on the rights of the persons concerned and on liability.
Article 3DefinitionsFor the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:(1)"alert" means a set of data entered into SIS allowing the competent authorities to identify a person with a view to taking specific action;(2)"supplementary information" means information not forming part of the alert data stored in SIS, but connected to alerts in SIS, which is to be exchanged through the SIRENE Bureaux:(a)in order to allow Member States to consult or inform each other when entering an alert;(b)following a hit in order to allow the appropriate action to be taken;(c)when the required action cannot be taken;(d)when dealing with the quality of SIS data;(e)when dealing with the compatibility and priority of alerts;(f)when dealing with rights of access;(3)"additional data" means the data stored in SIS and connected with alerts in SIS which are to be immediately available to the competent authorities where a person in respect of whom data has been entered in SIS is located as a result of conducting a search in SIS;(4)"third-country national" means any person who is not a citizen of the Union within the meaning of Article 20(1) TFEU, with the exception of persons who are beneficiaries of rights of free movement equivalent to those of citizens of the Union under agreements between the Union, or the Union and its Member States on the one hand, and third countries on the other hand;(5)"personal data" means personal data as defined in point 1 of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679;(6)"processing of personal data" means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, logging, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction;(7)a "match" means the occurrence of the following steps:(a)a search has been conducted in SIS by an end-user;(b)that search has revealed an alert entered into SIS by another Member State; and(c)data concerning the alert in SIS match the search data;(8)a "hit" means any match which fulfils the following criteria:(a)it has been confirmed by:(i)the end-user; or(ii)the competent authority in accordance with national procedures, where the match concerned was based on the comparison of biometric data;and(b)further actions are requested;(9)"issuing Member State" means the Member State which entered the alert into SIS;(10)"granting Member State" means the Member State which is considering granting or extending or which has granted or extended a residence permit or long-stay visa and which is involved in the consultation procedure with another Member State;(11)"executing Member State" means the Member State which takes or has taken the required actions following a hit;(12)"end-user" means a member of staff of a competent authority authorised to search directly CS-SIS, N.SIS or a technical copy thereof;(13)"biometric data" means personal data resulting from specific technical processing relating to the physical or physiological characteristics of a natural person, which allow or confirm the unique identification of that natural person, namely photographs, facial images and dactyloscopic data;(14)"dactyloscopic data" means data on fingerprints and palm prints which due to their unique character and the reference points contained therein enable accurate and conclusive comparisons on a person's identity;(15)"facial image" means digital images of the face with sufficient image resolution and quality to be used in automated biometric matching;(16)"return" means return as defined in point 3 of Article 3 of Directive 2008/115/EC;(17)"entry ban" means an entry ban as defined in point 6 of Article 3 of Directive 2008/115/EC;(18)"terrorist offences" means offences under national law referred to in Articles 3 to 14 of Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDirective (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 March 2017 on combating terrorism and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA and amending Council Decision 2005/671/JHA (OJ L 88, 31.3.2017, p. 6)., or equivalent to one of those offences for the Member States which are not bound by that Directive;(19)"residence permit" means a residence permit as defined in point (16) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (OJ L 77, 23.3.2016, p. 1).;(20)"long-stay visa" means a long-stay visa as referred to in Article 18(1) of Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement;(21)"threat to public health" means a threat to public health as defined in point (21) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;(22)"ESP" means the European search portal established by Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilRegulation (EU) 2019/817 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of borders and visa and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2016/399, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240, (EU) 2018/1726 and (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Decisions 2004/512/EC and 2008/633/JHA (OJ L 135, 22.5.2019, p. 27).;(23)"shared BMS" means the shared biometric matching service established by Article 12(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817;(24)"CIR" means the common identity repository established by Article 17(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817;(25)"MID" means the multiple-identity detector established by Article 25(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817.
Article 4Technical architecture and ways of operating SIS1.SIS shall be composed of:(a)a central system (Central SIS) composed of:(i)a technical support function ("CS-SIS") containing a database, (the "SIS database"), and including a backup CS-SIS,(ii)a uniform national interface ("NI-SIS");(b)a national system (N.SIS) in each of the Member States, consisting of the national data systems which communicate with Central SIS, including at least one national or shared backup N.SIS;(c)a communication infrastructure between CS-SIS, backup CS-SIS and NI-SIS ("the Communication Infrastructure") that provides an encrypted virtual network dedicated to SIS data and the exchange of data between SIRENE Bureaux, as referred to in Article 7(2); and(d)a secure communication infrastructure between CS-SIS and the central infrastructures of the ESP, the shared BMS and the MID.An N.SIS as referred to in point (b) may contain a data file (a "national copy") containing a complete or partial copy of the SIS database. Two or more Member States may establish in one of their N.SIS a shared copy which may be used jointly by those Member States. Such shared copy shall be considered as the national copy of each of those Member States.A shared backup N.SIS as referred to in point (b) may be used jointly by two or more Member States. In such cases, the shared backup N.SIS shall be considered as the backup N.SIS of each of those Member States. The N.SIS and its backup may be used simultaneously to ensure uninterrupted availability to end-users.Member States intending to establish a shared copy or shared backup N.SIS to be used jointly shall agree their respective responsibilities in writing. They shall notify their arrangement to the Commission.The Communication Infrastructure shall support and contribute to ensuring the uninterrupted availability of SIS. It shall include redundant and separated paths for the connections between CS-SIS and the backup CS-SIS and shall also include redundant and separated paths for the connections between each SIS national network access point and CS-SIS and backup CS-SIS.2.Member States shall enter, update, delete and search SIS data through their own N.SIS. The Member States using a partial or a complete national copy or a partial or complete shared copy shall make that copy available for the purpose of carrying out automated searches in the territory of each of those Member States. The partial national or shared copy shall contain at least the data listed in points (a) to (v) of Article 20(2). It shall not be possible to search the data files of other Member States' N.SIS, except in the case of shared copies.3.CS-SIS shall perform technical supervision and administration functions and have a backup CS-SIS, capable of ensuring all functionalities of the principal CS-SIS in the event of failure of that system. CS-SIS and the backup CS-SIS shall be located in the two technical sites of eu-LISA.4.eu-LISA shall implement technical solutions to reinforce the uninterrupted availability of SIS either through the simultaneous operation of CS-SIS and the backup CS-SIS, provided that the backup CS-SIS remains capable of ensuring the operation of SIS in the event of a failure of CS-SIS, or through duplication of the system or its components. Notwithstanding the procedural requirements laid down in Article 10 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1726 eu-LISA shall, no later than 28 December 2019, prepare a study on the options for technical solutions, containing an independent impact assessment and cost-benefit analysis.5.Where necessary in exceptional circumstances, eu-LISA may temporarily develop an additional copy of the SIS database.6.CS-SIS shall provide the services necessary for the entry and processing of SIS data, including searches in the SIS database. For the Member States which use a national or shared copy, CS-SIS shall:(a)provide online updates for the national copies;(b)ensure synchronisation of and consistency between the national copies and the SIS database; and(c)provide the operation for initialisation and restoration of the national copies.7.CS-SIS shall provide uninterrupted availability.8.Without prejudice to paragraphs 1 to 5, SIS data may also be searched via the ESP.9.Without prejudice to paragraphs 1 to 5, SIS data may also be transmitted via the secure communication infrastructure referred to in point (d) of paragraph 1. These transmissions shall be limited to the extent that the data are required for the purposes of Regulation (EU) 2019/817.
Article 5Costs1.The costs of operating, maintaining and further developing Central SIS and the Communication Infrastructure shall be borne by the general budget of the Union. Those costs shall include work done with respect to CS-SIS, in order to ensure the provision of the services referred to in Article 4(6).2.Funding is allocated from the envelope of EUR 791 million foreseen under point (b) Article 5(5) of Regulation (EU) No 515/2014 to cover the costs of implementation of this Regulation.3.From the envelope referred to in paragraph 2, and without prejudice to further funding for this purpose from other sources of the general budget of the Union, an amount of EUR 31098000 is allocated to eu-LISA. Such funding shall be implemented under indirect management and shall contribute to carrying out the technical developments required under this Regulation concerning Central SIS and the Communication Infrastructure, as well as related training activities.4.From the envelope referred to in paragraph 2, the Member States participating in Regulation (EU) No 515/2014 shall receive an additional global allocation of EUR 36810000 to be distributed in equal shares through a lump sum to their basic allocation. Such funding shall be implemented under shared management and shall be entirely devoted to the quick and effective upgrade of the national systems concerned in line with the requirements of this Regulation.5.The costs of setting up, operating, maintaining and further developing each N.SIS shall be borne by the Member State concerned.
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