Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the development of the Visa Information System (VIS) IN 2008 (submitted in response to the obligation under Article 6 of Council Decision 2004/512/EC)
Date: 2009-09-15
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU policy, EU visa policy, admission of aliens, exchange of information, immigration, information system, residence permit

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 15.9.2009 
COM(2009) 473 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE VISA INFORMATION SYSTEM (VIS) IN 2008 
(submitted in response to the obligation under Article 6 of Council Decision 
2004/512/EC) 

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Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the 
development of the Visa Information System (VIS) 

Progress Report January – December 2008 
(COM (2009)473) 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

Introduction...................................................................................................................3 

Project status .................................................................................................................3 

2.1. 

Progress during the period under review ......................................................................3 

2.1.1.  Legal framework for the VIS........................................................................................4 

2.1.2.  Rescheduling the VIS ...................................................................................................5 

2.1.3.  Development of the Central System - deliverables ......................................................5 

2.1.4.  Development of the Biometric Matching System (BMS) ............................................5 

2.1.5.  Site Preparations and Network .....................................................................................6 

2.1.6.  Testing and related deliverables ...................................................................................6 

2.1.7.  National Planning and coordination .............................................................................7 

2.1.8.  Friends of VIS...............................................................................................................8 

2.1.9.  Roll-out to consular posts and border crossing points..................................................8 

2.2. 

Commission project management.................................................................................8 

2.2.1.  Planning and budget......................................................................................................8 

2.2.2.  Risk management..........................................................................................................9 

2.2.3.  Project management board (PMB) ...............................................................................9 

2.3. 

SIS II Committee meetings...........................................................................................9 

2.3.1.  SISVIS Committee .....................................................................................................10 

2.3.2.  Change Management Board (CMB) ...........................................................................10 

2.3.3.  Test Advisory Group (TAG).......................................................................................10 

2.3.4.  VIS Mail Expert Group (VIS MEG)...........................................................................10 

3. 

Conclusions and Perspectives.....................................................................................11 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This  is  a  report  on  the  work  carried  out  by  the  Commission  in  2008  (January  –  December 
2008)  on  the  development  of  the  Visa  Information  System  (VIS).  It  is  the  fifth  progress 
report1  presented  by  the  Commission  to  the  Council  and  the  European  Parliament  in 
accordance with Article 6 of Council Decision 2004/512/EC of 8 June 2004 establishing the 
Visa Information System (VIS)2. This decision provides that the Commission, assisted by the 
SIS II Committee3, is responsible for developing the VIS, whereas the national systems shall 
be  adapted  and/or  developed  by  the  Member  States.  In  2007,  the  SISVIS  Committee4  was 
established to assist the Commission in the exercise of its implementing powers for matters 
relating to the operational phase of both the SIS II and VIS projects. The first meeting of the 
VIS formation of the SISVIS Committee took place in November 2008, following the entry 
into  force  of  Regulation  (EC)  767/2008  concerning  the  Visa  Information  System  (VIS)  and 
the exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visas (VIS Regulation)5 . 

2. 

PROJECT STATUS 

2.1. 

Progress during the period under review 

Summary of main activities 

At the end of the reporting period pre-Compliance Testing with several Member States was 
underway  in  the  second  phase,  after  successful  completion  of  the  Factory  Acceptance  Test 
(FAT). 

A "Friends of VIS" group was established under the French Presidency to follow up national 
VIS projects and provide a link between ministerial and expert levels, ensuring that Member 
States' developments are also followed up closely.  

The  Change  Management  Board  (CMB)  was  established  in  March  2008  to  maintain  stable 
specifications and to give advice about any change requests brought forward that impact the 
technical specifications of the VIS. 

The  Test  Advisory  Group  (TAG)  was  also  established  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  and 
agreeing all testing-related issues with Member States. 

During the period under review, several changes to the VIS and Biometric Matching System 
(BMS)  were  requested  for  implementation  before  the  Operational  Systems  Test  (OST).  It 
became clear that additional time would be necessary to implement these changes. On advice 
from the "Friends of VIS", COREPER agreed in December 2008 that the VIS project shall be 

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For the fourth report, see the Report from the Commission to the Council and European Parliament on 
the development of the Visa Information System (VIS) in 2007, COM(2008) 714 final of 10.11.2008. 
OJ L 213 of 15.6.2004, p. 5. 
The Comitology framework for both the SIS II and VIS projects in the development phase, set up by 
virtue of Article 5 (1) of Regulation No 2424/2001 (OJ L 328, 13.12.2001, p. 4). 
Set  up  by  Article 51(1)  of  Regulation (EC)  No  1987/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  20 December 2006  on  the  establishment,  operation  and  use  of  the  second  generation 
Schengen Information System (SIS II). 
Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 concerning 
the  Visa  Information  System  (VIS)  and  the  exchange  of  data  between  Member  States  on  short-stay 
visas (VIS Regulation) – OJ L 218 of 13.08.2008, p.60 

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rescheduled  to  take  account  of  these  final  changes  to  the  system,  whilst  ensuring  that  VIS 
retains a start of operations date in 20096. 

2.1.1.  Legal framework for the VIS 

Although  political  agreement  was  achieved  between  the  European  Parliament  and  the  JHA 
Council  on  the  "VIS  legislative  package",  consisting  of  the  Regulation  concerning  the  Visa 
Information  System  (VIS)  and  the  exchange  of  data  between  Member  States  on  short-stay 
visas7  (VIS  Regulation)  and  a  third  pillar  Council  Decision8  in  June  2007,  the  legal 
instruments  were  only  formally  adopted  in  June  2008,  after  two  parliamentary  reservations 
were lifted. 

Regulation  (EC)  No  767/2008  defines  the  purpose  and  functionalities  of  the  VIS  and  the 
responsibilities for this system. It also establishes conditions and procedures for the exchange 
of data between Member States on applications for short-stay visas and on the decisions taken 
in  relation  thereto.  The  data  to  be  processed  in  the  VIS  include  alphanumeric  data, 
photographs and fingerprints of the visa applicant, in order to ensure reliable verification and 
identification of individuals. 

Council  Decision  2008/633/JHA  concerns  access  for  consultation  of  the  Visa  Information 
System (VIS) by designated authorities of Member States and by Europol for the purposes of 
the prevention, detection and investigation of terrorist offences and of other serious criminal 
offences. 

Both legal instruments were published in the Official Journal on 13 August 2008 and entered 
into force on 2 September 2008. 

The  adoption  of  the  aforementioned  legal  instruments  meant  that  technical  specifications 
could be finalised and the development, carried out on the basis of the politically agreed legal 
draft in 2007, could continue as planned according to the new schedule. Before the VIS can 
begin operations, however, the Common Consular Instructions9 and Schengen Borders Code10 
must  also  be  amended  to  take  into  account  VIS  operations  at  consular  posts  and  border 
crossing  points,  respectively.  Political  agreement  was  reached  on  both  amending  legal 
instruments at the end of the reporting period. The proposal for a Visa Code11 also continued 
to be discussed throughout the reporting period but has not yet been adopted. 

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See section 2.1.2 for more details. 
Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 concerning 
the  Visa  Information  System  (VIS)  and  the  exchange  of  data  between  Member  States  on  short-stay 
visas (VIS Regulation) – OJ L 218 of 13.08.2008, p.60 
Council  Decision  2008/633/JHA  of  23  June  2008  concerning  access  for  the  consultation  of  the  Visa 
Information System (VIS) by designated authorities of Member States and by Europol for the purposes 
of the prevention, detection and investigation of terrorist offences and of other serious criminal offences 
(VIS Decision) – Council document 11077/07 
Draft  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  amending  the  Common  Consular 
Instructions  on  visas  for  diplomatic  missions  and  consular  posts  in  relation  to  the  introduction  of 
biometrics including provisions on the organisation of the reception and processing of visa applications 
– Interinstitutional file: 2006/0088 (COD) 
Regulation  (EC)  No 562/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  15 March  2006 
establishing  a  Community  Code  on  the  rules  governing  the  movement  of  persons  across 
borders (Schengen Borders Code) OJ L 105, 13.4.2006, p. 1. 
Draft  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  establishing  a 
Community Code on Visas, COM (2006) 403 final 

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2.1.2.  Rescheduling the VIS 

According to the revised schedule agreed in September 2007, taking into account all technical 
changes to be made to the central system resulting from the adoption of the legal basis, the 
Central  VIS  was  due  to  be  ready  for  operations  in  June  2009.  Work  towards  this  deadline 
continued throughout the reporting period and this schedule was strictly followed and nearly 
all  milestones  were  achieved  in  accordance  with  the  agreed  plan.  During  discussions  with 
Member States experts in the VIS National Project Managers and at the Change Management 
Board  (see  section  2.3),  Member  States  submitted  a  number  of  requests  for  changes12  that 
would  impact  the  development  of  the  VIS  and  BMS  and  require  an  update  of  technical 
specifications. In November, the CMB recommended implementing these changes before the 
VIS becomes operational and the SIS II Committee agreed this approach. Since the changes 
would  impact  the  development  of  the  VIS  by  six  months  as  assessed  by  the  Main 
Development  Contractor,  the  recommendations  of  the  CMB  and  SIS  II  Committee  were 
forwarded to the "Friends of VIS" group for discussion and orientation. In their first meeting 
in December, the group confirmed the Member States' unanimous desire to implement these 
changes  before  VIS  begins  operations.  During  their  last  meeting  in  2008,  the  COREPER 
asked  the  Commission  to  prepare  a  detailed  updated  schedule  for  the  VIS,  which  would 
include the above-mentioned changes and move the date of operations to the end of 2009. 

throughout 

2.1.3.  Development of the Central System - deliverables 
Development  of  several  iterations  of  main  deliverables  and  many  testing  deliverables13 
continued 
the  reporting  period.  The  full  functional  Detailed  Technical 
Specifications were accepted in April along with the Interface Control Document (ICD),14 and 
the  functional  and  architectural  specification  baseline  was  frozen.  As  planned,  the  final 
version  of  the  Detailed  Technical  Specifications  (DTS)  that  comprised  the  functional 
specifications, architectural aspects as well as technical specifications was received at the end 
of  September.  Since  the  agreement  was  obtained  during  2008  to  implement  the  requested 
changes,  the  DTS  and  ICD  will  need  to  be  updated  to  reflect  these  changes.  The  second 
release  of  the  CD  simulator  based  on  ICD/XSD  1.76  was  provided  to  Member  States  in 
October and contained corrections after the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) campaign, which 
was conducted and completed successfully in September. 

2.1.4.  Development of the Biometric Matching System (BMS)  

After political agreement was achieved between the Council and European Parliament on the 
VIS  Regulation  and  the  related  Decision,  the  Main  Development  Contractor  conducted  an 
analysis of the system development work needed to ensure that VIS is fully compatible with 
the  legal  framework  and  that  it  can  interface  with  the  BMS.  The  suspension  of  the  BMS 
contract15 was lifted on 1 April, after which the BMS environment was connected to VIS in 
order to carry out the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT). 

Software kits for biometric functionalities were also immediately delivered to Member States. 
During  the  year,  Member  States  received  software  kits  for  use  in  their  fingerprint  capture 

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The  change  requests  concerned  the  implementation  of  biometrics  in  the  VIS,  namely  to  include  the 
possibility  to  perform  verifications  using  fewer  than  four  fingers  and  to  avoid  indicating  the  exact 
finger(s) used for the verification to the system. Two other change requests concerned updating the end-
user  role  matrix  for  VIS  and  to  extend  the  access  rights  of  3rd  pillar  authorities  in  accordance  with 
Council Decision 2008/633/JHA of 23 June 2008.  
See Section 2.1.6. 
DTS version 1.22 and ICD version 1.72 
Suspended in 2007 due to the late adoption of the VIS legal basis and its impact on the overall schedule 

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devices and made use of the BMS web portal for their national biometric implementation. In 
2008  several  visits  were  made  by  a  number  of  invited  groups  to  the  BMS  Showcase/ 
Demonstrator which simulates the use of VIS at consular posts and at border-crossing points. 
Member  States  delegations,  Members  of  the  European  Parliament  and  Commission  Vice-
President Barrot with members of his Cabinet were shown the practical aspects and workflow 
of biometric visa applications in a mock-up setting. 

Draft implementing measures laying down the technical specifications for the resolution and 
use of fingerprints for biometric identification and verification complementing the minimum 
specifications set by Commission Decision 2006/648/EC were prepared in 2008. They are due 
to be discussed in the SISVIS Committee in 2009. 

The first part of the BMS Systems Solutions Test was completed at the end of the reporting 
period,  but  accuracy  and  performance  testing  will  continue  in  2009.  Preparations  for 
subsequent testing and the development of tools continued. A guide to BMS fingerprints Best 
Practices  was  developed  and  distributed  to  Member  States  in  the  last  VIS  National  Project 
Managers' meeting of 2008. 

2.1.5. 

Site Preparations and Network 

The  VIS  Central  Unit  and  Backup  Central  Unit  were  installed  at  both  sites  in  Strasbourg 
(France) and St. Johann im Pongau (Austria) in February. The connection between the Central 
Unit  and  Backup  Central  Unit  was  made  on  1  April,  ahead  of  the  expected  contractual 
deadline. Installation of the hardware at both sites started as planned and was finalised at the 
end of July. 

Network installation was launched in January 2008 when a site survey questionnaire was sent 
to all Member States. All 48 site visits were completed by March and the delivery of circuits 
continued throughout the spring, although six sites were placed on hold at the request of MS 
until the end of the year. The network installation was fully completed by the end of June as 
planned for all Member States' sites except for four main sites and five backup sites, mostly 
due to the lack of room readiness. 

The  Commission  Decision  2008/602/EC  laying  down  the  physical  architecture  and 
requirements of the National Interfaces and of the communication infrastructure between the 
Central  VIS  and  the  National  Interfaces  for  the  development  phase  was  adopted  by  the 
Commission on 17 June 2008. 

2.1.6.  Testing and related deliverables 

Major preparations for testing Central VIS and for tests with Member States that will start in 
early 2009 took place during the reporting period. Member States designated testing managers 
in  April.  Six  Member  States  were  identified  who  will  be  the  first  to  carry  out  Compliance 
Tests and will participate in the Operational Systems Tests (OST)16. Another nine will also be 
needed  to  carry  out  the  Provisional  System  Acceptance  Test  (PSAT)17.  The  Member  States 
who will participate in OST were ready with their network connections in June and some had 
completed their national system development in late September, when pre-compliance testing 
began on the VIS Playground. Since early October, the testing environment includes all BMS 
functionalities.  At  the  end  of  the  reporting  period,  the  six  OST  countries  had  basic 

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By  the  end  of  the  year  the  six  OST  countries  were  Estonia,  Germany,  Italy,  Norway,  Slovenia,  and 
Sweden 
The PSAT countries are subject to change depending on the status of their national preparations, but at 
time  of  writing  they  have  been  identified  as  Austria,  Czech  Republic,  France,  Hungary,  Latvia, 
Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain.  

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connectivity  and  were  preparing  to  perform  application  connectivity  tests.  Three  OST  MSs 
had  successfully  completed  their  Compliance  Tests  by  the  end  of  2008.  In  parallel,  the 
functional tests of the SST had begun, followed by performance tests. Following the approval 
of the change requests, some of the testing phases will be rescheduled. A second iteration of 
the  System  Solution  Tests  (SST)  will  be  carried  out  after  the  requested  changes  have  been 
implemented, followed immediately by the OST and concluding with the PSAT, with a view 
to declaring the VIS ready for operations in late December 2009. 

The first version of the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) Test Design Description (TDD) was 
received and sent to Member States in January 2008. Member States provided functional test 
cases to be included in the FAT TDD later in the year. The FAT itself began on 6 August and 
was  carried  out  in  four  campaign  cycles  until  29  September.  The  final  version  of  the  FAT 
TDD (2.0) delivered in October incorporated the corrections performed during the FAT tests 
and was used as the basis for preparing the functional SST. 

The  Compliance  Test  Protocol  (CTP)  was  updated  according  to  the  politically-agreed  legal 
framework  and  integration  with  the  BMS,  and  a  new  version  was  delivered  in  March.  The 
final  version  (2.10)  was  made  available  to  Member  States  in  April.  The  CTP  is  used  as  a 
reference  document  to  specify  the  compliance  tests  and  to  develop  the  Test  Design 
Description for the Compliance Tests (CT TDD). The CT TDD describes in detail all the tests 
related to Member States' Compliance Testing, following the FAT TDD, and was delivered in 
October. The Test Plan version 2.30 was accepted in July. 

The  first  draft  of  the  SST  non-functional  TDD  was  received  in  April.  This  deliverable  was 
extensively  commented  by  Commission  services  and  Member  States  in  a  formal  review 
period lasting several months. A few intermediate versions were submitted but version 1.00 of 
the  SST  TDD  was  made  available  to  Member  States  in  September.  Non-functional  and 
functional  versions  were  reviewed  throughout  the  second  part  of  the  year,  and  the  SST 
functional  tests  began  in  December.  Test  cases  will  be  re-executed  wherever  there  is  any 
discrepancy found with the TDD. 

2.1.7.  National Planning and coordination 

During  the  reporting  period,  ten  Working  Group  meetings  for  the  Member  States’  National 
Project  Managers  (NPM)  were  organised  by  Commission  services  in  the  framework  of  the 
SIS  II  Committee,  in  order  to  discuss  planning  issues,  risks  and  activities  at  central  and 
national  project  levels.  A  separate  Test  Advisory  Group  (TAG)  was  also  established  to 
support  the  work  of  the  SIS  II  Committee,  in  addition  to  the  Change  Management  Board 
(CMB)  and  VIS  Mail  expert  group.  The  latter  groups  were  established  to  discuss  specific 
aspects concerning testing, changes to the system specifications, and the development of the 
VIS Mail communication mechanism, respectively. 

Apart from the availability of the central VIS, the key dependency for the system becoming 
operational  is  the  progress  of  national  projects.  The  state  of  progress  varies  between  the 
Member  States,  due  to  different  circumstances  at  national  level.  The  monthly  reporting  by 
Member States for these meetings has enhanced the quality, consistency and usefulness of the 
information  available  on  their  national  projects.  In  2008,  progress  was  reported  by  Member 
States  in  their  monthly  progress  report  according  to  their  status  as  OST  countries,  PSAT 
countries  and  other  Member  States.  Progress  was  reported  against  six  different  milestones, 
including readiness to connect to the network and playground, to carry out compliance tests, 
prepare consular posts in North Africa and to carry  out testing with  VIS Mail.  Commission 
services  also  received  information  on  progress  at  national  level  in  countries  that  will  fully 
apply  the  Schengen  acquis  at  a  later  stage.  Most  Member  States  consistently  reported  their 
progress  as  being  on  time  to  achieve  these  milestones,  but  it  is  apparent  that  a  number  of 

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Member States are encountering difficulties with the development of their national systems. 
Due  to  the  varying  degrees  of  preparation  among  Member  States,  there  is  a  risk  that  some 
Member States may not be ready with their national systems to carry out testing activities and 
connect to the central system in line with the agreed schedule.  

2.1.8.  Friends of VIS 

At the SCIFA meeting of September 2008 a group comprising Member States' senior officials 
nominated by the relevant Minister was mandated to follow the national VIS projects until the 
VIS  begins  operations,  ensuring  that  inter  alia  Member  States  make  the  necessary 
arrangements  to  ensure  that  their  visa  authorities  (or  another  Member  State  on  their  behalf) 
collect and transmit the visa application data to the VIS, according to the regional rollout. 

The first meeting of the group took place in December in Paris under the French Presidency. 
At this meeting, the group discussed the four change requests to be implemented before the 
OST,  in  addition  to  consular  cooperation,  regional  deployment,  project  organisation  and 
support to the Member States. The group gave advice to COREPER to approve the changes 
requested  by  the  Member  States,  provided  that  there  are  no  further  requests  until  VIS  goes 
live.  This  will  impact  the  VIS  implementation  schedule  by  six  months.  The  Friends  of  VIS 
will also help to coordinate the regional rollout of VIS, the business processes and workflow 
organisation  at  consular  posts  and  border  crossing  points,  public  relations  (all  stakeholders) 
and  statistics  and  reports.  In  cooperation  with  the  Commission,  the  group  will  also  develop 
and  follow  up  a  checklist  of  Member  States'  activities  related  to  all  technical,  consular  and 
border preparations. 

2.1.9.  Roll-out to consular posts and border crossing points 

According to the draft amendment of the Common Consular Instructions, Member States shall 
collect  biometric  identifiers  comprising  the  facial  image  and  ten  fingerprints  from  visa 
applicants at their consular posts. In preparation for rollout to consular posts, the pilot project 
for the capture, storage and verification of biometric data from visa applicants (BIODEV II) 
has continued to run throughout the reporting period and has in fact been extended until the 
end  of  March  2009.  The  project  extension  comprises  half  of  the  original  BIODEV  II 
participants  (France,  Belgium,  Germany  and  Austria).  Results  so  far  have  shown  that 
obtaining  good  quality  fingerprints  from  visa  applicants  requires  extensive  training  of 
operators and possible re-capture of sets several times in order to reduce failure to enrol rates. 

According to the amended Schengen Borders Code, Member States should be ready to use the 
VIS at all external border crossing points for verifications against the VIS of all visa holders 
twenty  days  after  VIS  goes  live  in  the  first  consular  region.  Council  Conclusions  under  the 
UK Presidency defined that the first consular region shall be North Africa and that VIS rollout 
thereafter should be completed over the course of two years in determined regions, the order 
of which is to be determined in comitology.  

2.2. 

Commission project management 

2.2.1.  Planning and budget 

The total commitment appropriations in the 2008 general budget amounted to € 20 million, of 
which  €2,000,000  were  put  into  the  reserve.  Th e  main  components  of  expenditure  during 
2008 were the preparation of additional features for biometrics, external assistance for project 
management and quality assurance, exploitation costs for the development phase, and changes 
to  the  VIS  (due  to  developments  with  the  legal  texts  and  Member  State  change  requests). 
88.21%  of  the  total  VIS  appropriations  were  committed  and  95.13%  of  payment 

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appropriations had been paid by the end of the reporting period. The budget line for the VIS is 
18.02.05. 

Commitment and Payment appropriations 2008 

Available 
commitment 
appropriations 

Consumed 

Total %  Available 
payment 
appropriations 

Consumed 

Total % 

€18,745,376.30 

€16,535,020.04  88.21 %  14, 657,396.30 

13,943,795.81  95.13 % 

 2.2.2.  Risk management  

In accordance with best practice, the project risks are identified, assessed and monitored on an 
ongoing  basis  within  three  risk  logs.  The  Main  Development  Contractor  assesses  risks  for 
activities  within  the  scope  of  its  contract  (development  of  the  central  system,  provision  of 
support  and  training).  The  Member  States  monitor  risks  relating  to  their  national  projects. 
Commission services also assess the global project risks, comprising e.g. the tasks of the main 
development  contractor,  the  national  projects,  preparation  of  the  operational  sites  and 
adoption of the legal instruments. The risks are divided into high, medium and low exposure 
risk levels. The Commission discusses risks with the Member States on a regular basis during 
the NPM meetings and also in the Project Management Board (PMB). 

During  the  reporting  period,  the  most  critical  risk  identified  was  the  risk  of  the  Main 
Development Contractor not being in a position to present their deliverables with the required 
level of quality within the timeframe of the agreed schedule. Another critical risk was that of 
the additional change requests and delays with national systems. A third major risk was the 
chance that functional changes to the VIS would be caused by the amendment of the Common 
Consular  Instructions.  Other  risks  on  the  contractor's  side  include  synchronisation  during 
testing phases and release management between VIS and BMS. A risk linked to the Member 
States  concerns  readiness  for  the  test  phases.  The  Commission  and  the  Main  Development 
Contractor work closely together to mitigate these risks and their impact on the project. 

2.2.3.  Project management board (PMB) 

In 2008, the PMB met ten times to discuss project management issues and risks with project 
stakeholders,  the  main  development  contractor  and  the  quality  assurance  contractor,  in 
addition to the previous and forthcoming Member State Presidencies.  

2.3. 

SIS II Committee meetings 

There were seven meetings of the SIS II Committee in 2008 during which progress with the 
development of the VIS was discussed. 

In addition to regular SIS II Committee meetings, VIS working groups composed of Member 
States’ experts and project managers (NPM) are organised by Commission services to discuss 
detailed  technical  issues  and  to  provide  a  state-of-play  on  the  central  project  (see  Section 
2.1.7).  

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SISVIS Committee 

2.3.1. 
In 2008, the SISVIS Committee18 was established to assist the Commission in the exercise of 
its implementing powers for matters relating to the operational phase of both the SIS II and 
VIS projects. Unlike the SIS II Committee, both projects are not included on one agenda, but 
Member  State  experts  meet  in  different  formations.  Once  the  VIS  Regulation  entered  into 
force, the first meeting of the SISVIS Committee in VIS formation could be convened. This 
took  place  in  November  and  discussed  the  rules  of  procedure  and  the  draft  VIS  Mail 
specifications.  It  will  remain  responsible  for  taking  comitology  decisions  related  to 
implementing rules throughout 2009. 

2.3.2.  Change Management Board (CMB) 

The  CMB  was  established  during  the  reporting  period  as  an  advisory  working  group  of  the 
SISVIS  Committee  (VIS  formation).  It  makes  recommendations  on  the  configuration 
management  of  VIS  during  the  development  phase,  including  testing,  for  subsequent 
discussion  in  the  VIS  NPM  meeting  and  will  report  to  the  SISVIS  Committee  (VIS 
formation).  

2.3.3.  Test Advisory Group (TAG) 

The  TAG  was  established  during  the  reporting  period  as  an  advisory  working  group  of  the 
SISVIS  Committee  (VIS  formation).  The  TAG  ensures  that  a  structured  process  is  used  to 
address  and  resolve  testing-related  issues  and  advises  on  the  completion  of  VIS  testing 
campaigns. It makes recommendations on the testing of VIS during all test phases especially 
where Member States participate directly. 

2.3.4.  VIS Mail Expert Group (VIS MEG) 

To support the implementation of the VIS communication mechanism (VIS Mail), which will 
use the VIS infrastructure and will be composed of a central mail relay and the national mail 
servers and applications, the informal VIS Mail Expert Group (VIS MEG) was established in 
February within the framework of the VIS NPM meeting.  

The  VIS  MEG  meets  monthly  and  at  least  ten  Member  States  participate.  After  agreeing  a 
high level plan and strategy for the VIS Mail implementation at the VIS NPM in April 2008, 
the  VIS  Mail  Specifications  were  drafted.  The  final  version  of  the  draft  was  informally 
supported  by  the  VIS  NPM  in  October.  The  draft  Decision  on  the  VIS  Mail  Specifications 
was submitted to the SISVIS Committee (VIS formation), which will be asked to deliver an 
opinion on the Decision in early 2009.  

In parallel to preparing the VIS Mail specifications, the group discussed the detailed plan for 
system implementation. The documentation needed by Member States for testing is partially 
delivered  by  the  Central  Mail  Relay  contractor  (VIS  Network  Contractor)  and  partially 
prepared  by  the  VIS  MEG.  The  work  of  the  Commission  and  the  Member  States,  in 
cooperation with the Network Contractor, is supported by the Support and Quality Assistance 
Contractor.  

18 

Set  up  by  Article 51(1)  of  Regulation (EC)  No  1987/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  20 December 2006  on  the  establishment,  operation  and  use  of  the  second  generation 
Schengen Information System (SIS II). 

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3. 

CONCLUSIONS AND PERSPECTIVES 

2008 was characterised by the implementation of the new schedule based on the analysis of 
the  adopted  legal  framework  and  performance  of  the  work  needed  to  incorporate  the  BMS 
into  the  VIS.  Finalising  the  technical  specifications  of  the  system  and  preparation  of  the 
testing deliverables comprised the bulk of the effort during the reporting period. The Factory 
Acceptance Tests were carried out and accepted and preparations for compliance testing with 
Member  States  were  underway.  Cooperation  with  Member  States  at  political  level  was 
strengthened  further  through  the  establishment  of  the  Friends  of  VIS.  The  schedule  for  the 
VIS  approved  in  2007  was  maintained  at  central  level  and  could  have  been  achieved  if  the 
unanimous  request  by  Member  States  for  the  implementation  of  four  changes  had  not 
emerged  towards  the  end  of  the  year.  These  changes  have  required  an  extension  of  the 
deadline for operations by six months. All stakeholders are closely working together towards 
achieving this goal in 2009. 

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