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            REGULATION (EC) No 1160/2005 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL         

of 6 July 2005         

amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders, as regards access to the Schengen Information System by the services in the Member States responsible for issuing registration certificates for vehicles

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 71(1)(d) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

The following Article shall be inserted in Title IV of the 1990 Schengen Convention:

‘Article 102A

1.   Notwithstanding Articles 92(1), 100(1), 101(1) and (2), 102(1), (4) and (5), the services in the Member States responsible for issuing registration certificates for vehicles, as referred to in Council Directive 1999/37/EC of 29 April 1999 on the registration documents for vehicles (*1), shall have the right to have access to the following data entered into the Schengen Information System, for the sole purpose of checking whether vehicles presented to them for registration have been stolen, misappropriated or lost:

Subject to paragraph 2, the national law of each Member State shall govern access to those data by those services.

2.   The services referred to in paragraph 1 that are government services shall be entitled to search directly the data entered in the Schengen Information System referred to in that paragraph.

The services referred to in paragraph 1 that are not government services shall have access to data entered in the Schengen Information System referred to in that paragraph only through the intermediary of an authority as referred to in Article 101(1). That authority shall be entitled to search directly the data and to pass them on to those services. The Member State concerned shall ensure that those services and their employees are obliged to respect any limitations on the permissible use of data passed on to them by the authority.

3.   Article 100(2) shall not apply to a search made in accordance with this Article. The communication by services as referred to in paragraph 1 to the police or judicial authorities of information brought to light by a search of the Schengen Information System which gives rise to suspicion of a criminal offence shall be governed by national law.

4.   Each year, after seeking the opinion of the joint supervisory authority set up pursuant to Article 115 on the data protection rules, the Council shall submit a report to the European Parliament on the implementation of this Article. That report shall include information and statistics on the use made of the provisions of this Article and the results obtained in their implementation and shall state how the data protection rules have been applied.

Article 2

1.   This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2.   It shall apply from 11 January 2006.

3.   For those Member States in which the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the SIS do not yet apply, this Regulation shall apply within six months after the date on which those provisions are put into effect for them, as specified in the Council Decision adopted to that effect in accordance with the applicable procedures.

4.   The content of this Regulation shall become binding for Norway 270 days after the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

5.   Notwithstanding the notification requirements laid down in Article 8(2)(c) of the Schengen Association Agreement with Norway and Iceland (9), Norway shall, before the date referred to in paragraph 4, notify the Council and the Commission that the constitutional requirements for becoming bound by the contents of this Regulation have been fulfilled.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Strasbourg, 6 july 2005.

For the European Parliament

The President

J. BORRELL FONTELLES            

For the Council

The President

J. STRAW            

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(1)OJ C 110, 30.4.2004, p. 1.

(2)  Opinion of the European Parliament of 1 April 2004 (OJ C 103 E, 29.4.2004, p. 794), Council Common Position of 22 December 2004 (OJ C 111 E, 11.5.2005, p. 19), Position of the European Parliament of 28 April 2005 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 2 June 2005.

(3)OJ L 138, 1.6.1999, p. 57. Directive as last amended by Commission Directive 2003/127/EC (OJ L 10, 16.1.2004, p. 29).

(4)OJ L 239, 22.9.2000, p. 19. Convention as last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 871/2004 (OJ L 162, 30.4.2004, p. 29).

(5)OJ L 389, 30.12.2004, p. 28.

(6)OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. Directive as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

(7)OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 31.

(8)OJ L 370, 17.12.2004, p. 78.

(9)OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 36.

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