The Justice and Home Affairs Council reached a political agreement on the legislative package on the Visa Information System (VIS): the VIS Regulation and the VIS Decision. The European Parliament adopted this…
The Justice and Home Affairs Council reached a political agreement on the legislative package on the Visa Information System (VIS): the VIS Regulation and the VIS Decision. The European Parliament adopted this package on 7 June.
The adoption of these instruments by the Parliament and the political agreement by Member States are necessary for the further development of the system for the exchange of visa information between Member States. The VIS Regulation will allow consulates and other competent authorities to start using the system when processing visa applications and to check visas. The VIS Decision will allow police and law enforcement authorities to consult the data under certain conditions that ensure a high level of data protection.
The Visa Information System will store data on up to 70 million people concerning visas for visits to or transit through the Schengen Area. This data will include the applicant`s photograph and their ten fingerprints. The VIS will become the largest ten fingerprint system in the world. High levels of security are being built into the system to ensure it remains robust and available at all times and that data is only accessed by authorised persons for authorised purposes. Once it is fully operational, the VIS will be connected to all visa-issuing consulates of the Schengen States and to all their external border crossing points.
Vice-President Frattini, Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, welcomed the adoption of both the VIS Regulation and the VIS Decision: The Commission welcomes very much the compromise that was reached on the VIS package. On the one hand, the VIS will offer a new practical tool both for consulates and border checkpoints, which will be the main daily users of the VIS, and for the police and law enforcement communities of the Member States, in order to prevent, fight and investigate terrorist offences as well as other serious crimes. On the other hand, bona fide travellers will benefit from the VIS, in particular, as regards the issuing of multiple-entry visas. At the same time, Vice-President Frattini pointed out that it was particularly important for me and for the Commission that from the outset all institutions were committed to ensuring that operational requirements went hand-in-hand with a solid protection of the personal data exchanged via the VIS.
The Commission proposed the text for the VIS Regulation in December 2004 and the VIS Decision in November 2005. The instruments are connected by the so-called bridging clause included in the VIS Regulation that authorises under certain conditions the use of the VIS data by police and law enforcement authorities of Member States. The VIS Regulation is adopted jointly by the Parliament and Council by means of the co-decision procedure. The VIS Decision is agreed by means of the consultation procedure.
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