Global Management for a Real European Information System taking the Schengen Information System (SIS) as an example

Abstract

The SIS has been operating since 26th March, 1995. This system handles the common information basis for the security agencies of the Schengen1 countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain)2. An operational SIS is the prerequisite for the abolition of border controls between the Schengen countries. The system includes information about wanted persons, stolen vehicles and other goods, documents, etc. Each country has its own copy of the common database (National Schengen Information System - N.SIS, containing information from all countries) for retrieval by its specific security agencies (police, border police, gendarmerie, etc.). The update of these copies is managed via the central database (Central SIS - C.SIS), located in Strasbourg and operated by France. A country sends an „update request“ from N.SIS to C.SIS, and C.SIS generates and distributes corresponding “update broadcasts” to all N.SISs. To allow for the greatest degree of freedom for national implementation (N.SISs), one of the design decisions was to use X.400-type message formats and the corresponding handling techniques (User Agent - UA, Message Transfer Agent - MTA) for this data exchange. Everything else is left to the individual country’s implementation. The organisational structures also follow the European principle: at each level of hierarchy all member states are represented, beginning with a technical committee (representatives of each N.SIS and C.SIS, in this paper called TC) up to the Board of the responsible Ministers.