REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the development of the Visa Information System (VIS) in 2012 (submitted pursuant to Article 6 of Council Decision 2004/512/EC)
Date: 2013-04-25
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU visa policy, Gulf States, Schengen Information System, biometrics

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 25.4.2013  
COM(2013) 232 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the 
development of the Visa Information System (VIS) in 2012  

(submitted pursuant to Article 6 of Council Decision 2004/512/EC) 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE 
COUNCIL Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the 
development of the Visa Information System (VIS) in 2012..................................................... 3 

1. 

2. 

3. 

3.1. 

3.2. 

3.3. 

3.4. 

3.5. 

3.6. 

3.7. 

4. 

4.1. 

4.2. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

7.1. 

7.2. 

7.3. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 4 

Overview ...................................................................................................................... 4 

Progress during the period under review ..................................................................... 5 

Final System Acceptance ............................................................................................. 5 

Regional roll-out .......................................................................................................... 5 

VIS Mail Communication Mechanism ........................................................................ 6 

Development of the Biometric Matching System (BMS)............................................ 6 

Contract for the Maintenance of the VIS under Working Order and Evolutive 
Maintenance (MWO/EM) ............................................................................................ 6 

Handover to the EU IT Agency “eu-LISA”................................................................. 7 

Statistics ....................................................................................................................... 7 

Project Management..................................................................................................... 7 

Planning and Budget .................................................................................................... 7 

Risk Management......................................................................................................... 7 

Friends of the VIS ........................................................................................................ 8 

Conclusion.................................................................................................................... 8 

Annex: VIS working groups ........................................................................................ 9 

SISVIS Committee....................................................................................................... 9 

VIS National Project Managers (NPM) meetings........................................................ 9 

VIS Mail Expert Group (VIS MEG)............................................................................ 9 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND 
THE COUNCIL 

Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the 
development of the Visa Information System (VIS) in 2012  

(submitted pursuant to Article 6 of Council Decision 2004/512/EC) 

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3 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The Commission, in accordance with Article 6  of  Council  Decision 2004/512/EC  of  8 June 
2004  establishing  the  Visa  Information  System1,  herewith  submits  to  the  Council  and  the 
European  Parliament  the  ninth  and  final  report  on  the  development  of  the  Visa  Information 
System (VIS)2. The report covers the work carried out by the Commission between January 
and December 2012. This report will be the last report delivered by the Commission pursuant 
to  Article  6  of  Council  Decision  2004/512/EC,  as  the […]  development  of  the  Central  Visa 
Information  System,  the  National  Interface  in  each  Member  State,  and  the  communication 
infrastructure between the Central Visa Information System and the National Interfaces […]3 
are now all completed. 

2. 

OVERVIEW 

The  Visa  Information  System  (VIS)  is  a  large-scale  IT  system  for  the  exchange  of  data  on 
short-stay visas between Schengen States. Its objective is to support the implementation of a 
common EU visa policy – as well as the EU's migration and border management policy – by 
preventing "visa shopping", assisting in the fight against irregular migration, contributing to 
the prevention of threats to internal security of Member States, and bringing transparent and 
faster  procedures  for  bona  fide  travellers.  It  is  accompanied  by  the  Biometric  Matching 
System (BMS), which performs fingerprint matching services. 

The  VIS  started  operations  on  11  October  2011  in  North  Africa,  when  all  Schengen  States 
connected their consular posts to the system in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, 
and Tunisia. Since 31 October 2011, all Schengen States also use the system at their external 
border crossing points. The VIS is being progressively deployed, region by region, and will 
eventually cover the entire world.  

The  European  Commission  has  been  responsible  for  the  management  and  the  entire 
implementation process of the VIS ever since 2004, until eu-LISA4 took over the operational 
responsibility of the system on 1 December 2012 (see section 3.6.). 

The system has been functioning in a very satisfying way since it was launched, with only a 
limited number of minor technical issues being reported. Its central capacity and performance 
will be increased as it will gradually be deployed around the world (see section 3.5.). During 
the  last  three  months  of  the  reporting  period,  on  average  4.900  Schengen  visas  were  issued 
every day using the VIS. 

1 
2 

3 
4 

OJ L 213 of 15.6.2004, p. 5. 
For the eighth report, see the Report from the Commission to the Council and European Parliament on 
the development of the Visa Information System (VIS) in 2011, COM(2012) 376 final of 11.07.2012 
OJ L 213 of 15.6.2004, p. 5. 
European  Agency  for  the  operational  management  of  large-scale  IT  systems  in  the  area  of  freedom, 
security and justice. 

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3. 

PROGRESS DURING THE PERIOD UNDER REVIEW 

3.1. 

Final System Acceptance 

The  Final  System  Acceptance  (FSA)  is  a  milestone  foreseen  in  the  contract  signed  in  2005 
between  the  Hewlett-Packard  Steria  (HPS)  consortium  and  the  European  Commission.  The 
FSA is agreed  when the  contractor  is considered to have completed the development  of the 
system  and  is  released  from  its  contractual  obligations  in  the  project  development.  It  was 
granted, as per the contract, after five consecutive months of operations without incident, in 
August 2012.  

This important step marks the end of the development of the system in the sense of Article 6 
of  the  Council  Decision  2004/512/EC  of  8  June  2004  establishing  the  Visa  Information 
System, and therefore the end of the yearly progress reports referred to in this Article. 

3.2. 

Regional roll-out 

During  the  reporting  period,  the  VIS  was  successfully  deployed  in  two  more  geographical 
regions, the Near East and the Gulf region, on 10 May and 2 October respectively.5 The dates 
for  the  start  of  operations  were  agreed  in  the  framework  of  the  “Friends  of  VIS”  (FoVIS) 
informal  steering  group,  and  formalised  in  two  legal  acts  pursuant  to  Article  48  of  the  VIS 
Regulation6. The European Commission adopted on 27 April 2012 an Implementing Decision 
(2012/233/EU) determining the date from which the VIS is to start operations in the Near East 
region.  The  date  chosen  was  10  May  2012.7  A  subsequent  Implementing  Decision 
determining the date from which the VIS is to start operations in the Gulf region was adopted 
on 21 September 2012 (2012/512/EU). The date chosen was 2 October 2012.8 

For both regions, all Member States notified the Commission of their readiness to connect to 
the system in due time. 

The  successful  and  incident-free  deployment  of  VIS  in  these  regions  covering  fourteen 
countries  indicates  that  the  system  has  matured  to  a  very  satisfactory  level  and  that  it  can 
sustain operations in subsequent regions. 

The  European  Commission  adopted  on  24  April  2012  an  Implementing  Decision 
(2012/274/EU) determining the second set of regions for the deployment of the VIS.9 

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6 

7 

8 

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Pursuant to Commission Decision 2010/49/EC of 30 November 2009 determining the first regions for 
the start of operations of the Visa Information System (VIS), OJ L 23, 27.1.2010, p. 62 
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 
Commission  Implementing  Decision  of  27  April  2012  determining  the  date  from  which  the  Visa 
Information System (VIS) is to start operations in a second region, OJ L 117 of 1.5.2012, p. 9. The Near 
East region comprises Israel, Jordan, the Lebanon, and Syria. 
Commission Implementing Decision of 21 September 2012 determining the date from which the Visa 
Information System (VIS) is to start operations in a third region, OJ L 256 of 22.9.2012, p.21. The Gulf 
region  comprises  Afghanistan,  Bahrain,  Iran,  Iraq,  Kuwait,  Oman,  Qatar,  Saudi  Arabia,  United  Arab 
Emirates, and Yemen. 
Commission Implementing Decision of 24 April 2012 determining the second set of regions for the start 
of operations of the Visa Information System (VIS), OJ L 134 of 24.5.2012, p.20. The regions are West 
Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Central Asia, South East Asia, and 
the occupied Palestinian territory. 

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3.3. 

VIS Mail Communication Mechanism 

The VIS Mail Communication Mechanism allows for the transmission of messages between 
Member States using the VIS network infrastructure. During the reporting period, work was 
focused  on  preparing  the  so-called  “Phase  2”  of  the  VIS  Mail,  which  will  replace  the 
Schengen  consultation  network  (VISION  system,  under  Council  management)  once  the 
worldwide deployment of the VIS is completed. Phase 2 will add new categories of messages 
already exchanged under Phase 1, which is operational from 11 October 2011. In 2012, the 
technical specifications were stabilised and the tests to be run in 2013 were defined. Before 
the VIS Mail Phase 2 file was handed over to eu-LISA (see section 3.6.), the test plan and the 
test detailed descriptions were approved by the Member States. 

The European Commission adopted on 29 February 2012 an Implementing Decision10 for the 
implementation of “VIS Mail Phase 2” communication mechanism. 

3.4. 

Development of the Biometric Matching System (BMS) 

The  Biometric  Matching  System  (BMS)  became  operational  together  with  the  VIS  on  11 
October  2011.  The  BMS,  which  provides  fingerprint  matching  services  to  the  VIS,  was 
granted  Final  System  Acceptance  in  March  2012  after  5  months  of  operations  without 
incident. 

During  the  reporting  period,  BMS  has  seen  the  quality  of  fingerprints  steadily  increase, 
stabilising to an overall Failure To Enrol (FTE) rate11 of around 4%. At the beginning of 2012 
the  overall  FTE  was  still  around  16%.  Member  States  continued  to  use  the  software  kits 
provided by the BMS contractor for their fingerprint capturing devices. 

The majority of fingerprints were submitted by France, Germany, Italy and Spain. 

A  number  of  participating  countries  (Belgium,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Latvia,  The 
Netherlands,  Poland,  and  Switzerland)  have  also  started  verifying  fingerprints  at  border 
crossing  points,  which  is  optional  during  a  transitional  period  of  three  years  in  accordance 
with  the  Schengen  Borders  Code.  Member  States  have  not  opted  to  reduce  this  transitional 
period to one year for air borders. 

Switzerland  and  Sweden  have  started  searching  VIS/BMS  with  fingerprints  from  asylum 
seekers. 

3.5. 

Contract for the Maintenance of the VIS under Working Order and Evolutive 
Maintenance (MWO/EM) 

In  order  to  cater  for  the  technical  maintenance  of  the  VIS  under  working  conditions  and  to 
improve the performance of the system over time, taking into account the increasing amount 
of data that will be inserted in the VIS in the coming years, the Commission launched a call 
for  tender  for  the  "Maintenance  in  Working  Order  (MWO)  and  the  Evolutive  Maintenance 
(EM)" of VIS on 14 July 2011. The contract was awarded in August 2012 and the contractor 
had fully taken over VIS from the incumbent contractor by the end of the reporting period. 

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Commission Implementing Decision of 29 February 2012 adopting the technical specifications for the 
VIS  Mail  Communication  Mechanism  for  the  purposes  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  767/2008  of  the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  concerning  the  Visa  Information  System  (VIS)  and  the 
exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visas (VIS Regulation) between Member States 
on short-stay visas (VIS Regulation), C(2012) 1301 final 
The Failure To Enrol (FTE) rate is the percentage of fingerprints sets that are below usable quality 

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3.6. 

Handover to the EU IT Agency “eu-LISA” 

eu-LISA took over the operational responsibility of VIS from the Commission on 1 December 
2012. During a transitional phase, a service contract between the European Commission and 
France allows the French authorities in Strasbourg (C.SIS) to assist with the operation of the 
VIS  while  eu-LISA  gradually  takes  over.  The  Commission  was  heavily  involved  in  the 
handover  of  both  the  VIS  and  BMS  projects  to  eu-LISA  at  the  end  of  the  reporting  period. 
Considerable support was provided by the Commission in terms of training and shadowing, 
allowing  for  the  agency  to  take  over  the  management  of  the  VIS  under  the  best  possible 
conditions.  

3.7. 

Statistics 

As  of  22  November  2012,  the  VIS  had  successfully  processed  close  to  1.9  million  visa 
applications, of which 1.5 million resulted in Schengen visas issued, while close to 235.000 
visas were refused. The central system had dealt with almost forty million operations received 
from consulates around the world and border crossing points. These figures concern the use of 
VIS  in  the  three  regions  where  the  system  has  been  rolled  out,  plus  the  consulates  where 
Member States have started using the VIS ahead of a pre-determined date. 

The production of statistical data has since been transferred to eu-LISA. 

4. 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT 

4.1. 

Planning and Budget 

The  total  available  commitment  appropriations  for  the  VIS  in  2012  amounted  to  EUR  40 
million of which 99.8 % were used. The total available payment appropriations amounted to 

Available CA 

Execution 
CA 

Total 
% 

  Available PA 

Execution 
PA 

Total 
% 

(credits 
VIS 

C1 
from 
Financing 
Decision 
2012) 

(credits 

C5 
from 
contributions 
IS,  NO,  CH 
2011) 

38.740.000,00  38.661.331,99  

  32.458.123,00  31.394.314,52  

1.298.209,85 

1.298.209,85  

1.298.209,85 

1.298.209,85  

Total 

40.038.209,85  39.959.541,84

99,8 %   33.756.332,85  32.692.524,37

96,8 %

EUR 33.8 million of which 96.8 % were used. The budget line for VIS is 18.0205. 

4.2. 

Risk Management 

As  for  the  previous  years,  the  most  important  risks  at  central  and  national  level  were 
identified  by  the  Commission  and  presented  to  the  Member  States  at  the  monthly  VIS 
National Project Managers' meetings as well as in the FoVIS meetings.  

At the end of 2012, the most critical risks identified were the following:  

a) alphanumerical data quality during operations;  

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b) ability of Member States to comply with all obligations under the Operator Manual and the 
VIS Regulation (including self-auditing);  

c) handover of the VIS to eu-LISA;  

d) fingerprint quality during operations;  

e) timely upgrade of the VIS capacity.  

For all risks, mitigation actions were defined and all stakeholders worked together to limit the 
impact of these risks on the overall project.  

5. 

FRIENDS OF THE VIS 

The informal working group of the Council met six times during the reporting period – three 
times in the first semester and three times in the second one. As usual, the agenda was set by 
the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council (respectively Denmark and Cyprus) 
in coordination with the Commission and the General Secretariat of the Council. The format 
of the meeting remained unchanged, with a technical update by the Commission on the VIS 
state of play, a report on risks, results from the reporting mechanism on national progress and 
strategic discussions on the regional rollout of the VIS. 

As  it  was  the  case  for  the  first  region,  the  national  monitoring  system  used  in  the  FoVIS 
meetings allowed for the successful launch of the VIS in the Near East and Gulf regions. 

At the meeting of 18 July 2012, it was agreed that the date on which the use of VIS becomes 
mandatory for all Member States in West Africa and Central Africa could be 14 March 2013. 

6. 

CONCLUSION 

Three major events characterized the VIS project in 2012. First, the Final System Acceptance 
(FSA)  was  granted  to  the  Main  Development  Contractor,  thereby  closing  a  contractual 
relation of seven years between the Commission and the HPS consortium. Secondly, the VIS 
was  successfully  launched  in  two  more  geographical  regions,  the  Near  East  and  the  Gulf 
region. This development confirmed the robustness of the system and its capacity to be rolled 
out in future regions. Finally the operational responsibility of the system was handed over to 
the  eu-LISA,  which  is  now  fully  operational  both  on  the  technical  sites  in  Strasbourg  and 
Sankt Johann im Pongau and at the headquarters in Tallinn.  

This is the last annual report on the progress of the VIS project delivered by the Commission 
pursuant to Article 6 of Council Decision 2004/512/EC. 

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7. 

ANNEX: VIS WORKING GROUPS 

SISVIS Committee 

7.1. 
The  SISVIS  Committee  in  the  VIS  formation12  met  once  in  2012,  on  8  March.  During  the 
meeting,  the  Commission  informed  the  delegations  that  the  Commission  Implementing 
Decision  on  the  technical  specifications  for  the  VIS  Mail  communication  mechanism  had 
been  adopted  on  29  February.  The  Committee  also  gave  a  favourable  opinion  on  the 
Commission  Implementing  Decision  determining  the  second  set  of  regions  for  the  start  of 
operations  of  the  VIS.  This  Decision  is  based  on  a  Commission  non-paper  from  June  2011 
and covers the sequence of regions 4 to 11 included.  

7.2. 

VIS National Project Managers (NPM) meetings 

During the reporting period, the Commission convened seven expert group meetings with the 
Member States’ National Project Managers, to discuss the status of the VIS project, detailed 
technical issues, planning issues, risks and activities at central and national project levels. The 
last  meeting  of  the  VIS  National  Project  Managers  took  place  on  25  October  and  has  since 
been replaced by the so-called VIS Advisory Group, which is organised by eu-LISA. 

7.3. 

VIS Mail Expert Group (VIS MEG) 

The  group  met  seven  times  throughout  the  reporting  period  with  the  aim  to  support  the 
implementation of the VIS Mail Communication Mechanism, and in particular the so-called 
“Phase  2”  (see  section  3.3.).  The  last  meeting  of  the  VIS  MEG  took  place  on  29  October. 
Matters related to VIS Mail have since been incorporated in the VIS Advisory Group, under 
the responsibility of eu-LISA.  

12 

Established 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), OJ L 381, 28.12.2006, p. 4. 

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