on the state of play of preparations for the full implementation of the Interoperability Regulations in accordance with Article 78(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 and Article 74(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/818

1.Introduction

The implementation of interoperability of information systems, underpinning the area of freedom, security and justice, is essential to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of checks at the external borders to prevent illegal immigration, to improve the implementation of the common visa policy, and to prevent, detect and investigate terrorist offences and other serious criminal offences and facilitate the identification of unknown persons.

On 11 June 2019, the Interoperability Regulations entered into force. They lay down provisions on monitoring and evaluation by the Commission and the European Union Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (eu-LISA) on the state of implementation of Interoperability.

The Commission submitted a first report on the implementation of the Interoperability Regulations on 21 August 2020 and a second report on 10 November 2021. This third report covers the period between the publication of the previous progress report in November 2021 and the preparation of this report in July 2022.

This third report comes at a critical time for the interoperability project. Work on the implementation of the Interoperability Regulations continues to progress across Member States, Schengen associated countries and EU agencies with different pace. Some Member States face specific challenges in their preparation for the new IT architecture for EU information systems and their interoperability, linked to national delays in public procurement, contractual issues, insufficient availability of expertise and necessary human resources, among others.

Due to delays in the delivery of the Entry/Exit System (EES) at central level, a revised timeline for the new IT systems was confirmed by the Ministers at the informal meeting of the Justice and Home affairs Council on 11 July 2022. According to the new timeline, the implementation of all the new systems related to the management of the external borders (SIS, EES and ETIAS) will be finalised by the end of 2023 in accordance with the overall political objective, whereas the interoperability components will be developed in the course of 2023 and should be progressively put into operation not later than June 2024.

As a joint endeavour Interoperability requires all stakeholders to work in a coordinated manner as delays in one part of the system affect all. In the coming months, the Commission will continue to closely monitor and support Member States in order to achieve the important goal of interoperability within the agreed timeframe.

2.State of play

Work for the development and implementation of the new IT architecture for EU information systems for borders, migration and security and their interoperability is ongoing. The Commission has kept the Council and the European Parliament closely informed on the progress achieved through annual reporting and through the proceedings of the Commission’s Committees and Expert Groups. In addition, the Commission has regularly invited the European Parliament and the Council to relevant fora for information exchange with the Member States, such as the bi-annual Interoperability Forum. The state of play has also been continuously discussed at technical and political level, including in the relevant Council bodies such as the Council Working Party on JHA Information Exchange (IXIM), Coreper as well as the Justice and Home Affairs Council.

·IT Systems and their interoperability

In November 2022, the Schengen Information System (SIS) will be renewed with new alerts, upgraded data and enhanced functionalities. The novelties in the SIS will improve the system by enhancing cooperation between Member States, protecting the most vulnerable, making better the management of irregular migration, combating criminality and safeguarding the rights of citizens.

In preparation for the entry into operation of the EES in May 2023, all the required implementing and delegated acts have been adopted. The implementation of the system is entering the final development and testing stages both at central and national level. In view of challenges in the timely execution and delivery of the EES at central level, eu-LISA and the Commission engaged in discussions with representatives of the consortium developing the EES to reduce as much as possible the risk of further delays. To alleviate pressure on already charged border-crossing points, the Commission is assessing the possibility of allowing Member States, following the entry into operation of the EES, in exceptional situations, to temporarily create a certain portion of EES files without biometric data.

As regards the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), implementation activities are ongoing for an entry into operation by mid-November 2023. All implementing and delegated acts necessary for the development of the system have been adopted or reached a stable version. The remaining acts are also in the final stages of adoption. An extensive communication campaign as well as a dedicated ETIAS website are being prepared to ensure that travellers to Europe will be adequately informed about the new requirements in a timely manner.

The development of the European Criminal Records Information System on third-country nationals (ECRIS-TCN) is progressing for going live in mid-November 2023 in line with the latest decision of the JHA Council. As regards the Visa Information System (VIS), work is underway in the Commission for the preparation of secondary legislation necessary for the development of the revised VIS, also in the context of the wider interoperability framework.

Substantial efforts are being deployed in the Member States in preparatory work for the entry into operation of the Interoperability components

·Implementing legislation on Interoperability

The Interoperability Regulations provide that implementing legislation should be adopted in order to supplement and implement certain detailed technical aspects of the Regulations. Some of these acts are necessary to fully enable eu-LISA to commence its design and development of the components in the context of the overall system architecture, especially as this requires defining technical specifications and preparing procurement procedures in order to work with contractors. Other acts are needed to lay down technical rules to facilitate operation on the ground by the relevant authorities, for example through the use of standard forms and establishing cooperation procedures to address security incidents.

Since the last progress report, the Commission continued to discuss in the relevant committees and expert groups a series of implementing and delegated acts necessary for the development of the interoperability components. To date, the vast majority of these acts have been adopted in cooperation with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU as foreseen in the applicable procedures. The Commission adopted in total 3 delegated and 9 implementing acts stemming from the Interoperability Regulations on the matters of: technical procedures and replies from the European search portal (ESP) (article 9.7), the performance of the shared biometric matching service (article 13.5), necessary forms in case of a red link (article 32.5) and of a white link (article 33.6), data quality (article 37.4), cooperation procedures in case of security incidents (article 43.5), on operation of the web portal (article 49.6) and on technical solution to manage law enforcement user access requests (article 78.10). Three of the already adopted acts are under revision in order to incorporate amendments stemming from the new Regulation concerning the Visa Information System (VIS) and consequential amendments to the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS): the acts on technical rules for creating links between data from different EU information systems (article 28.7) and for the ESP user profiles (article 8.2) and the act on the Central Repository for Reporting and Statistics (article 39.5). The delegated act on the procedures to determine the cases in which identity data can be considered to be the same or similar (article 28.5) was objected to by the European Parliament in January 2022. The Commission revised the act in order to address the concerns of the European Parliament as well as to incorporate amendments stemming from the new VIS Regulation and consequential amendments to the ETIAS. The preparation process included due consultation of the Interoperability Subgroup of the Expert Group on Information Systems for Borders and Security, with the participation of experts from the European Parliament. The Commission adopted the revised act on same or similar data in July 2022.

One act remains to be adopted – the implementing act on the universal message format (UMF) (article 38.3). This act is undergoing adoption procedure within the Commission at the time of preparation of this report.