ANNEX

The data to be entered in the EES as provided for in Articles 16 to 20 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 are grouped into two categories: individual file and entry/exit/refusal records. The individual file consists of both alphanumeric and biometric data.

The technical specifications referred to in Article 37(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 shall define the business and validation rules to be applied to the data to be entered in EES.

1.1. Alphanumeric data

Most of the content stored in EES shall be extracted either from the Machine Readable Zone of the travel document or, where technically possible, electronically extracted from the electronic Machine Readable Travel Document (e-MRTD). It is therefore important that the information transmitted to the EES is compliant with the standards used for this, especially in the cases where it cannot be retrieved electronically and/or it has to be manually encoded by a border guard on the basis of data available in the Visual Inspection Zone. This applies only to the alphanumeric information that can be retrieved from the travel document's data page.

The following fields shall comply with the ICAO DOC9303 standard:

Article Attribute Standard 16(1)(a) Surname (family name); first name(s) (given names) ICAO DOC9303 16(1)(b) Three-letter code of the issuing country of the travel document or documents As per: ISO/IEC 3166-1 alpha-3 (1) 16(2)(d) Three-letter code of the issuing Member State of a short stay visa sticker number As per: ISO/IEC 3166-1 alpha-3 19(1)(d) Three-letter code of the issuing country of a visa sticker As per: ISO/IEC 3166-1 alpha-3

In addition, the following rules shall be respected:

(a) Article 16(2)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 — border crossing point and authority that authorised the entry: the border crossing point is an authority of type Border Crossing Point. The list of authorities shall be maintained in accordance with the Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

(b) Article 16(2)(c)- A flag to identify that the entry was performed by a third-country national who: — is a member of the family of a Union citizen to whom Directive 2004/38/EC applies or of a national of a third country enjoying the right of free movement equivalent to that of Union citizens under an agreement between the Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and a third country, on the other; and — does not hold a residence card pursuant to Directive 2004/38/EC or a residence permit pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002 (2);

(c) Article 16(2)(d) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 — short stay visa sticker number: the information shall be retrieved from VIS. In case the short stay visa sticker number has not changed since the previous entry or exit, the information already stored in EES can be re-used for the new entry or exit.

(d) Article 16(6) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 — A flag to identify if the third country national benefits from a national facilitation programme.

1.1.1. Data Quality

In order to improve data quality at an early stage, the functionality of the EES Central System (CS) shall include checking a set of data quality rules. Furthermore there will be data quality rules at the level of the national border infrastructure. The result of checking these rules against the data that has been entered can be seen as the quality status of data recorded.

The following order of priority shall be applied to compliance with quality rules:

(a) Blocking rules at the level of the national border infrastructure of each Member State. Upon data entry, quality rules generate an error to the user, forbidding sending the data to EES. Such a blocking rule may rely on complex checks such as dependencies between EES data sets.

(b) Blocking wrongly formatted messages at the level of the National Uniform Interface (NUI). Technically this is achieved through XSD definitions. Violating such a check would result in the system returning an error code forbidding saving the data in EES. The technical capabilities of such checks are limited in complexity to checking data types and patterns (such as checking the type of a value or its length).

(c) Soft rules. Upon data entry, soft quality rules generate a warning to the user if not complied with. They do not prevent saving the data and triggering subsequent processes, but in such cases also generate a warning. The soft rules shall be assessed by the Central System at the time of storing the data.

The collected information on the quality shall be conveyed to the responsible user as well as any other user accessing these data. This information shall be displayed to the end user to allow the necessary corrective measures to be taken. The related technical details will be defined in the technical specifications referred to in Article 37(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

1.2. Biometric data

The biometric data covers the data related to the fingerprints and the facial image. This section sets out the rules that shall be applied to entering those data. The specifications of the standard, quality and resolution requirements for the biometric data are laid down in the Commission Implementing Decision laying down the specifications for the quality, resolution and use of fingerprints and facial image for biometric verification and identification in the Entry/Exit System (EES) (3).

1.2.1. Facial Images

The facial image is mandatory pursuant to Article 15(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 and it shall be taken live In circumstances where the facial image of the e-MRTD is used (Article 15(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226), a flag shall be used to inform the end user that the facial image is coming from the e-MRTD and, therefore, it shall be replaced at the next border crossing by a new live captured image where possible.

1.2.2. Fingerprints

In the case of a third country national exempt of visa obligation, the fingerprints shall be captured in accordance with Article 17(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.

In case fingerprints are not required or cannot be provided, in accordance with Article 17(3) and (4) and Article 18(5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, a field providing the reason why the fingerprints are not provided shall be implemented in the EES.

Reason Detail Value Article 17(3) Child under 12 years old Not Applicable [Description field: ‘Art. 17(3)’] Article 17(4) Physically impossible indicated per finger Not Applicable [Description field: ‘Art. 17(4)’] Article 17(4) Temporary impossibility indicated per finger Temporary impossibility [Description field: ‘Art 17(4)’] Article 18(5) Third country national is refused entry on the basis of a reason corresponding to letter J of Annex V, Part B of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) Refusal of entry [Description field: ‘Art. 18(5)’]

(1) Some exceptions compared to the ISO/IEC 3166-1 alpha-3 may exist and will be documented in the technical specifications referred to in article 37(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226. Any evolution of the ISO/IEC 3166-1 alpha-3 standard will have to be reflected in the future.

(2) Council Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002 of 13 June 2002 laying down a uniform format for residence permits for third-country nationals (OJ L 157, 15.6.2002, p. 1).

(3) C(2019) 1280.

(4) Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Borders Code) (OJ L 77 23.3.2016, p. 1).