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 vehiclesText with EEA relevance.
Date: 2005-07-06
Institutions: Council of the European Union, European Parliament
Subjects: EU Member State, Schengen Agreement, Schengen Information System, access to information, fight against crime, public service, vehicle registration

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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),

the European Union pursuant

(2) The Schengen Information System (or the SIS), set up
under Title IV of the Convention of 1990 implementing
the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual
abolition of checks at common borders (4)(hereinafter
‘the 1990 Schengen Convention’) and integrated into the
framework of
to the
Protocol annexed to the Treaty on European Union and
the Treaty establishing the European Community,
constitutes an electronic network between the Member
inter alia, data on motor vehicles
States and contains,
with a cylinder capacity exceeding 50 cc which have been
stolen, misappropriated or lost. Pursuant to Article 100
of the 1990 Schengen Convention, data on such motor
vehicles sought for the purposes of seizure or use as
evidence in criminal proceedings are entered in the SIS.

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

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

(3) Council Decision 2004/919/EC of 22 December 2004
on tackling vehicle crime with cross-border implica-
tions (5) includes the use of the SIS as an integral part of
the law enforcement strategy against vehicle crime.

Whereas:

(1) Article 9 of Council Directive 1999/37/EC of 29 April
1999 on the registration documents for vehicles (3)
provides that Member States are to assist one another in
the implementation of that Directive and may exchange
information at bilateral or multilateral level in particular
so as to check, before any registration of a vehicle, the
latter's legal status, where necessary in the Member State
in which it was previously registered. Such checking may
in particular involve the use of an electronic network.

(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)

to Article 101(1) of

Pursuant
the 1990 Schengen
Convention, access to data entered in the SIS and the
right to search such data directly is reserved exclusively
to the authorities responsible for border checks and other
police and customs checks carried out within the
country, and the coordination of such checks.

(5) Article 102(4) of

provides that data may not,
administrative purposes.

the 1990 Schengen Convention
in principle, be used for

(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.

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(6)

Services responsible in the Member States for issuing
registration certificates for vehicles and clearly identified
for this purpose should have access to data entered in the
SIS concerning motor vehicles with a cylinder capacity
exceeding 50cc, trailers and caravans with an unladen
weight exceeding 750 kg and vehicle registration
certificates and vehicle number plates which have been
stolen, misappropriated, lost or invalidated, in order to
enable them to check whether the vehicles presented to
them for registration have been stolen, misappropriated
or lost. To that end it is necessary to adopt rules granting
those services access to those data, and to allow them to
use those data for the administrative purpose of properly
issuing registration certificates for vehicles.

(7) Member States should take the necessary measures to
ensure that, in case of a hit, the measures provided for
under Article 100(2) of the 1990 Schengen Convention
are taken.

(8) The European Parliament

recommendation to the
Council of 20 November 2003 on the second-generation
Schengen Information System (SIS II) outlines a number
of important concerns and considerations in relation to
the development of the SIS, particularly as regards access
to the SIS by private bodies such as vehicle registration
services.

that

services

issuing registration certificates

in the Member States
(9) To the extent
responsible
for
for
vehicles are not government services, access to the SIS
should be granted indirectly, that is to say through the
intermediary of an authority as referred to in Article 101
(1) of the 1990 Schengen Convention responsible for
ensuring compliance with the measures taken by these
Member States pursuant to Article 118 of that Conven-
tion.

for

issuing registration certificates

(11) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely granting
access to the SIS to services in the Member States
responsible
for
vehicles, in order to facilitate their tasks under Directive
1999/37/EC, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the
Member States by reason of the very nature of the SIS as
a joint information system, and can therefore only be
achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt
measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity
as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with
the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article,
this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in
order to achieve that objective.

(12) Member States should have a sufficient period within
which to take the practical measures necessary to apply
this Regulation.

(13) As regards Iceland and Norway, this Regulation con-
stitutes a development of provisions of the Schengen
acquis which fall within the area referred to in Article 1,
point G, of Council Decision 1999/437/EC of 17 May
1999 on certain arrangements for the application of the
Agreement concluded by the Council of the European
Union and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of
Norway concerning the association of those two States
with the implementation, application and development
of the Schengen acquis (2).

(14) As regards Switzerland, this Regulation constitutes a
development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis
within the meaning of the Agreement signed between the
European Union,
the European Community and the
Swiss Confederation concerning the association of the
Swiss Confederation with the implementation, applica-
tion and development of the Schengen acquis, which fall
within the area referred to in Article 1, point G, of
Decision 1999/437/EC read in conjunction with Article 4
(1) of Council Decision 2004/860/EC of 25 October
2004 (3) on the signing, on behalf of
the European
Community, and on the provisional application of
certain provisions of that Agreement.

(10) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data
and on the free movement of such data (1), and the
specific rules on data protection in the provisions of the
1990 Schengen Convention, which supplement or clarify
the principles set out in that Directive, apply to the
processing of personal data by the services responsible in
the Member States for issuing registration certificates for
vehicles.

(15) This Regulation respects the fundamental rights and
observes the principles recognised in particular by the
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

(16) This Regulation constitutes an act building on the
Schengen acquis or otherwise related to it within the
meaning of Article 3(2) of the 2003 Act of Accession,

(1) 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).

(2) OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 31.
(3) OJ L 370, 17.12.2004, p. 78.

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HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

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.

Article 1

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

‘Article 102A

Each year, after

seeking the opinion of

4.
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
state how the data
in their
protection rules have been applied.

implementation and shall

(4) and (5),

1. Notwithstanding Articles 92(1), 100(1), 101(1) and (2),
102(1),
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 (*), shall have the
right to have access to the following data entered into the
Schengen Information System,
the sole purpose of
checking whether vehicles presented to them for registration
have been stolen, misappropriated or lost:

for

(a)

data concerning motor vehicles with a cylinder capacity
exceeding 50 cc which have been stolen, misappro-
priated or lost;

(b) data concerning trailers and caravans with an unladen
weight exceeding 750 kg which have been stolen,
misappropriated or lost;

(c)

data concerning registration certificates for vehicles and
vehicle number plates which have been stolen, mis-
appropriated, lost or invalidated.

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.

(*) 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).’

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
for them, as
which those provisions are put
specified in the Council Decision adopted to that effect in
accordance with the applicable procedures.

into effect

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 (1), 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.

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

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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