Proposal for a Regulation establishing the conditions for accessing other EU information systems for ETIAS purposes

Summary:

On 7 January 2019 the European Commission presented two proposals on access to other EU information systems in the context of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS).

Further information:

In September 2018, the Council and the European Parliament adopted two legislative acts, a Regulation establishing the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) and an amendment of the Europol Regulation for the purpose of establishing ETIAS.

ETIAS will fill the information gap on travellers exempt from the requirement of being in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders, by determining the eligibility of visa-exempt third-country nationals prior to their travel to the Schengen Area and whether such travel poses a security, irregular migration or high epidemic risk.

The assessment of such risks will involve automated processing of personal data provided in the applications for travel authorisation. The ETIAS Regulation establishes that personal data in the applications will be compared with the data present in records, files or alerts registered in EU information systems or databases, in Europol data or in the Interpol databases.

The proposals set out the technical amendments necessary to fully set up the ETIAS system by amending the legal acts of the EU information technology systems ETIAS queries, including the Schengen Information System (SIS), the Visa Information System (VIS), the Entry/Exit System (EES), Eurodac, and the proposed European Criminal Records Information System – Third Country Nationals (ECRIS-TCN).

Due to the variable geometry in Member States' participation in EU policies in the area of freedom, security and justice, it is necessary to adopt two separate legal instruments which will nonetheless work seamlessly together to enable the comprehensive operation and use of the system.

Official

EUR-Lex: COM(2019)3: Proposal for a Regulation establishing the conditions for accessing the other EU information systems https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2019:003:FIN

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