The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Regulation concerning the Visa Information System (VIS) and the exchange of data …
The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Regulation concerning the Visa Information System (VIS) and the exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visas. The VIS will be a system for the exchange of visa data between Member States and thus primarily an instrument to support the common visa policy. It will also facilitate checks at the external borders and within the Member States, the application of the ‘Dublin’-Regulation determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application and the identification and return of illegal immigrants. The VIS shall be composed of a European central database, which will be connected to the national systems to enable consulates and other competent authorities of the Member States to enter and consult data on visa applications and the decisions taken thereto.
Vice-President Franco Frattini, the Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, said: “VIS has two main goals: contributing to the internal security of the Member States and the fight against illegal immigration by supporting the common visa policy and the checks on the visa applicants, thereby facilitating bona fide travelling in the Schengen area without internal borders”
Background:
The Council adopted on 8 June 2004 a first legal instrument which gives the Commission the mandate to prepare the technical development of VIS The proposal for a second legal instrument adopted by the Commission concerns the core instrument for the legal framework of the VIS, which constitutes a development of the Schengen acquis on common visa policy. The proposal takes into account the orientations for the development of the VIS adopted by the Council on 19 February 2004, as well as the results of an Extended Impact Assessment, carried out by the Commission.
The objective of the present proposal is to define the purpose, functionalities and responsibilities for the VIS, to give to the Commission the mandate to set up and operate the VIS and to establish the procedures and conditions for the exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visa applications in view of facilitating the examination of such applications and the related decisions. The data to be processed in the VIS shall include alphanumeric data and photographs, but also fingerprint data of the applicants, to ensure exact verification and identification. In particular, the clear definition of access rights and the purposes for which the data may be consulted and the responsibilities for the use of the data and supervision shall ensure a high level of data protection.
For the adoption of this second legal instrument the co-decision procedure will apply. It will be thus a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council. The negotiations with the European Parliament and the Council will start beginning of 2005.
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