REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the state of play of preparations for the full implementation of the new legal bases for the Schengen Information System (SIS) in accordance with Article 66(4) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 and Article 79(4) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862
Date: 2021-06-29
Institutions: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: European Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, Europol, Frontex, Schengen Information System, application of EU law, data collection, data protection, exchange of information, external border of the EU, personal data

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 29.6.2021  COM(2021) 336 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the state of play of preparations for the full implementation of the new legal bases for the Schengen Information System (SIS) in accordance with Article 66(4) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 and Article 79(4) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862     
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

On  28  November  2018,  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  adopted  three  new 
Regulations  on  the  establishment,  operation  and  use  of  the  Schengen  Information  System 
(hereafter: the Regulations)1.  

Article 66(4) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 and Article 79(4) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 
requires the Commission to submit on an annual basis a report to the European Parliament and 
the Council on the state of play of preparations for the full implementation of the Regulations.  

The first status report adopted in February 20202 described the preparatory work done by the 
Commission, agencies and Member States from 1 January 2019 until 30 September 2019.  

This second status report covers the period from 1 October 2019 until 30 September 20203. It 
is  based  on  information  that  Member  States  and  agencies  have  made  available  to  the 
Commission in questionnaires and surveys, and achievements in meetings and workshops.  

The  different  sections  explain  the  work  covered  during  the  reporting  period  by  the 
Commission, Member States and agencies. 

2.  STATE  OF  PLAY  OF  PREPARATIONS  FOR  IMPLEMENTATION  OF  THE 

REGULATIONS  

2.1.  Preparation of implementing acts by the Commission 

2.1.1.  Requirements  

A  targeted  amendment  to  the  SIRENE  Manual4  is  required  in  order  to  allow  Europol  to 
exchange supplementary information with the SIRENE Bureaux as provided for in point 9 of 
Article  63  of  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1861  and  point  7  of  Article  77  of  Regulation  (EU) 
2018/1862. 

In addition, the implementing acts necessary for the full application of the Regulations must 
be  adopted  before  the  revised  Schengen  Information  System  can  start  operations  in 

1  

Regulation (EU) 2018/1860 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the 
use of the Schengen Information System for the return of illegally staying third-country nationals OJ L 312, 
7.12.2018, p. 1; 

     Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the 
establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of border checks, 
and  amending  the  Convention  implementing  the  Schengen  Agreement,  and  amending  and  repealing 
Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006 OJ L 312, 7.12.2018, p. 14;  
Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the 
establishment,  operation  and  use  of  the  Schengen  Information  System  (SIS)  in  the  field  of  police 
cooperation  and  judicial  cooperation  in  criminal  matters,  amending  and  repealing  Council  Decision 
2007/533/JHA,  and  repealing  Regulation  (EC)  No  1986/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council and Commission Decision 2010/261/EU OJ L 312, 7.12.2018, p. 56. 

2   COM(2020) 72 final. 
3          The  information  reported  is  related  only  to  the  actual  period  of  coverage  of  this  report.  Other  events  or 
activities that happened after the reporting period will be included in the report covering the next reporting 
period (1 October 2020 until 30 September 2021). 
The SIRENE Manual is an implementing act that sets out the procedures for the exchange of supplementary 
information related to alerts. 

4  

1 

 
 
                                                 
 
accordance with Article 66(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 and Article 79(2) of Regulation 
(EU)  2018/1862.  The  legal  deadline  for  the  full  application  of  the  revised  Schengen 
Information System is 28 December 2021.  

2.1.2.  Finalisation of technical implementing decisions 

During the reporting period,  the Commission, in cooperation with  agencies and the relevant 
Committee5, finalised the work on the implementing decisions that are a technical prerequisite 
for the entry into operation of the revised Schengen Information System.  

2.1.3.  Revision of SIRENE Manual in two phases 

During  the  reporting  period,  the  Commission,  in  cooperation  with  agencies  and  the  SIS-
SIRENE  Committee,  reached  significant  progress  in  updating  the  SIRENE  Manual,  in  two 
phases: 

  phase  I:  targeted  amendment  of  the  current  SIRENE  Manual6  to  include  Europol  in  the 
exchange of supplementary information with SIRENE Bureaux as provided for in point 9 
of Article 63 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 and point 7 of Article 77 of Regulation (EU) 
2018/1862; 

  phase  II  (to  be  completed  as  a  precondition  for  the  full  start  of  the  application  of  the 
revised  Schengen  Information  System):  complete  revision  of  the  SIRENE  Manual, 
including all new procedures required in view of the Regulations. 

With  regard  to  the  targeted  amendment  of  the  SIRENE  Manual  under  phase  I,  the 
Commission elaborated specific rules for the exchange of supplementary information between 
Europol and the SIRENE Bureaux, notably on: 

 
 
 

 

 

 

the use of handling codes;  
the provision of supplementary information by Europol after a match;  
the  provision  of  supplementary  information  by  the  SIRENE  Bureaux  after  a  hit  on 
alerts related to terrorist offences;  
the  procedures  for  Europol  when  it  needs  to  obtain  agreement  to  use  data  and 
supplementary information, or to share it with third countries; 
the  procedures  for  Europol  when  it  needs  to  obtain  agreement  on  the  continued 
storage of supplementary information; and  
the  collection  and  provision  of  statistics  on  the  exchange  of  supplementary 
information by Europol.  

The preparatory work has been completed during the reporting period. 

With  regard  to  the  complete  revision  of  the  SIRENE  Manual  under  phase  II,  the 
Commission organised during the reporting period nine meetings of the SIRENE Subgroup to 
analyse  thoroughly  the  procedural  requirements  originating  from  the  Regulations.  The  main 

5   The  term ‘SIS-SIRENE  Committee’  includes  both  the  ‘SIS-SIRENE  Police’  Committee  and  the  ‘SIS-
SIRENE Borders’ Committee (see https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regcomitology/index.cfm?do=List.list). 
6   Commission  Implementing  Decision  (EU)  2017/1528  of  31  August  2017  replacing  the  Annex  to 
Implementing  Decision  2013/115/EU  on  the  SIRENE  Manual  and  other  implementing  measures  for  the 
second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) (OJ L 231, 7.9.2017, p. 6). 

2 

 
 
 
                                                 
preparatory  work  has  been  completed  during  the  reporting  period,  including  the  revision  of 
the  SIRENE  forms  (templates  used  by  SIRENE  Bureaux  to  exchange  supplementary 
information in a structured way) and the technical specifications for the exchange of SIRENE 
forms.  

The work will continue during the next reporting period with the aim to reach an agreement 
on  the  draft  SIRENE  Manual  in  the  SIS-SIRENE  Committee  and  to  adopt  the  revised 
SIRENE Manual by the end of the next reporting period. 

2.2.  Development of Central SIS7 and preparation of testing activities by eu-LISA 

2.2.1.  Tasks of eu-LISA 

Eu-LISA is in charge of the operation and development of Central SIS and plays a crucial role 
in the implementation of the Regulations. The main tasks of eu-LISA are: 

 

 

 

to  update  the  technical  documentation  for  Central  SIS  and  the  interactions  between 
Central  SIS  and  the  national  systems  in  line  with  the  requirements  from  the 
Regulations and the implementing acts; 

to  implement  the  required  changes  in  Central  SIS  and  prepare,  coordinate  and  carry 
out  all  testing  activities  with  regard  to  Central  SIS  and  the  interactions  with  the 
national systems, in close cooperation with Member States and agencies; 

to complete all testing activities before the revised Schengen Information System can 
start  operations  in  accordance  with  Article  66(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1861  and 
Article 79(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862. 

2.2.2.  Entry into operation of the first implementation phase on 8 January 2020 

On  8  January  2020,  eu-LISA  has  put  the  first  release  for  the  update  of  Central  SIS  in 
accordance with the Regulations into operation, giving Europol full access to all alerts created 
in  the  Schengen  Information  System  and  enabling  the  European  Border  and  Coast  Guard 
Agency to establish a technical connection to Central SIS, as required under point 9 of Article 
63  of  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1861  and  points  7  and  8  of  Article  77  of  Regulation  (EU) 
2018/1862.  In  addition,  the  agencies  have  been  granted  access  to  the  fingerprint  search 
functionality of the Schengen Information System. 

2.2.3.  Preparations for the development of the non-biometric part of Central SIS for start of 

operation before end 2021 

During  the  reporting  period,  eu-LISA  organised  ten  Project  Management  Forum  meetings 
with  all  stakeholders  (Commission,  Members  States,  Europol,  Eurojust  and  the  European 

7  

‘Central SIS’ as described in Article 4.1(a) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and 
of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information 
System  (SIS)  in  the  field  of  border  checks,  and  amending  the  Convention  implementing  the  Schengen 
Agreement, and amending and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1987/2006  OJ L 312, 7.12.2018, p. 14; and 
Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the 
establishment,  operation  and  use  of  the  Schengen  Information  System  (SIS)  in  the  field  of  police 
cooperation  and  judicial  cooperation  in  criminal  matters,  amending  and  repealing  Council  Decision 
2007/533/JHA,  and  repealing  Regulation  (EC)  No  1986/2006  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council and Commission Decision 2010/261/EU OJ L 312, 7.12.2018, p. 56. 

3 

 
 
                                                 
Border  and  Coast  Guard  Agency)  and  the  external  contractor  to  steer  the  development  and 
finalisation  of  the  technical  specifications  in  line  with  the  technical  rules  agreed  in  the 
relevant committee.  

The  technical  specifications  for  the  non-biometric  part  of  the  revision  of  the  Schengen 
Information System have been approved by all stakeholders in May 2020, and eu-LISA has 
started the development of the required changes to Central SIS during the reporting period. 

2.2.4.  Preparations  for  the  development  of  biometric  part  of  Central  SIS  for  start  of 

operations before end 2021 

During the reporting period, eu-LISA organised nine specific meetings with all stakeholders 
(Commission, Members States, Europol, Eurojust and the European Border and Coast Guard 
Agency) and the external contractor on the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The 
biometric component of this system entered into operation in March 2018, but the Regulations 
require important modifications. In particular, biometric searches will be extended with new 
categories of dactyloscopic data (palm prints and palm/finger marks). 

The  ‘Analysis  and  Design’  phase  covering  the  preliminary  work  on  project  initiation, 
requirements and specification was concluded during the reporting period with the finalisation 
and  approval  of  the  technical  specifications  on  1  October  2020.  The  second  phase 
“Implementation” has been initiated.  

2.2.5.  Review  of  technical  specifications  for  the  exchange  of  supplementary  information 

between SIRENE Bureaux 

The revision of the forms by the relevant committee referred to under point 2.1.3 required an 
update  of  the  technical  specifications  for  the  exchange  of  forms  and  the  related 
documentation. In accordance with common Article 15(3)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 
and Regulation (EU) 2018/1862, the maintenance and updating of technical specifications for 
the exchange of supplementary information between SIRENE Bureaux has been assigned to 
eu-LISA. 

During the reporting period, eu-LISA organised five workshops with all stakeholders reaching 
a  general  agreement  on  the  requirements  in  September  2020.  It  is  planned  to  finalise  and 
approve the technical specifications and documentation by the end of 2020. 

2.2.6.  Summary and risks 

Compared to the previous reporting period, where eu-LISA initiated the preparations for the 
project  with  the  creation  of  technical  groups  and  organising  the  global  planning,  work  is 
progressing for the development of Central SIS in line with the Regulations. 

The technical specifications are approved and development is ongoing for the non-biometric 
part  of  Central  SIS.  For  the  biometric  part  of  Central  SIS,  the  technical  specifications  are 
finalised and development has been initiated. The two parts of the technical specifications will 
be merged into one single document by the end of 2020. 

The  COVID-19  crisis  has  impacted  on  global  planning  with  hardware  shortages,  hardware 
delivery  delays,  travel  restrictions  and  inaccessibility  of  eu-LISA’s  data  centres.  The  global 
planning for 2020 and 2021 was re-adjusted and 2021 will be dedicated to  testing activities 
with Member States and agencies until November, after the next reporting period. According 
to  the  global  planning,  is  still  schedules  to  put  the  final  release  for  the  revised  Schengen 

4 

 
 
Information System in production by the end of 2021, according to the deadlines specified in 
the Regulations. 

2.3.  Member States’ preparations 

2.3.1.  Scope and requirements 

This report covers 25 EU Member States and four Schengen Associated Countries8 connected 
to Central SIS during the reporting period, and two EU Member States (Cyprus and Ireland) 
which were not connected to Central SIS during the reporting period. 9  

Article 66 (5)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 and Article 79 (5)(c) of Regulation 2018/1862 
require  all  Member  States  connected  to  Central  SIS  to  have  implemented  the  search 
functionality  of  the  Schengen  Information  System  -  Automated  Fingerprint  Identification 
System in their national systems by 28 December 2020. This obligation does not yet apply to 
Cyprus and Ireland, as they were not yet connected to Central SIS during the reporting period.  

In  addition,  all  Member  States  connected  to  Central  SIS  need  to  ensure  the  timely 
development  of  their  national  systems  in  line  with  the  approved  documents  and  technical 
specifications. 

Member  States  must  have  notified  the  Commission  that  they  have  made  the  necessary 
technical  and  legal  arrangements  to  process  data  and  exchange  supplementary  information 
pursuant  to  this  Regulation  before  the  revised  Schengen  Information  System  can  start 
operations in accordance with Article 66(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 and Article 79(2) 
of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862.   

2.3.2.  State of play of deployment of Schengen Information System - Automated Fingerprint 

Identification System (to be completed by end 2020) 

The obligation to deploy the Schengen Information System - fingerprint search functionality 
applies to 25 EU Member States and four Schengen Associated Countries (Cyprus and Ireland 
are not yet in scope during the current reporting period). 

The status until the end of the reporting period (30 September 2020) is the following: 

  22  out  of  29  participating  States  have  already  deployed  the  fingerprint  search 

functionality; 

  5 out of 29 participating States have planned to deploy the fingerprint search functionality 

before the end of 2020; 

  2 out of 29 participating States have planned to deploy the fingerprint search functionality 
in the beginning of 2021; the two States concerned indicated that the delay was due to the 
impact of the COVID-19 crisis. 

8   Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland. 
9  

In addition, while the UK was still connected to the Schengen Information System in the reporting period, it 
is not covered by this report as UK as it did not take part of the preparations for the implementation of the 
Regulations 

5 

 
 
                                                 
2.3.3.  Preparations  for  the  full  implementation  of  the  Regulations  (to  be  completed  before 

the end of 2021) 

Preparations by Member States are crucial because the Commission can only set the date from 
which  the  new  Schengen  Information  System  starts  operation  pursuant  to  Article  66(2)  of 
Regulation  (EU)  2018/1861  and  Article  79(2)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1862  after  the 
Member States have notified the Commission that they have made the necessary technical and 
legal arrangements.  

The Commission asked all EU Member States and Schengen Associated Countries to report 
through a questionnaire launched in September 2020 on preparations done at national level in 
the reporting period. All Member States responded (31 respondents). 

 Member States were requested to provide input in the following areas: 

  project planning and management; 

 

internal coordination; 

 

impact  assessment  in  terms  of  budget,  human  resources,  organisation  and  national 
legislation; 

 

risks. 

In  terms  of  project  planning,  nearly  all  Member  States  and  Schengen  Associated  Countries 
(29 respondents out of 30) have already started to define or have defined a project plan and 
related  milestones  (15  more  than  in  2019).  In  addition,  28  respondents  out  of  31  have 
established or will establish in the near future a specific project team and assigned a project 
manager, while the remaining three States will manage the implementation through existing 
departments  or  teams.  A  large  majority  of  the  respondents  (24)  established  in  2020 
cooperation at national level between competent authorities. 

In  terms  of  impact  assessment,  the  Member  States  are  currently  at  different  stages  of 
preparation10: 

budgetary impact assessment: 

  14 Member States have completed the assessment and allocated the relative budget; 

  16 Member States have completed the assessment and will allocate the budget by the end 

of 2020 or beginning of 2021; 

  1 Member State will start the assessment by the end of 2020; 

human resources needs assessment: 

  17 Member States have completed the assessment; 

10   Not  all  Member  States  were  able  to  provide  a  specific  assessment  for  each  of  the  categories  taken  into 

account in the questionnaire.  

6 

 
 
                                                 
  9 Member States will complete the assessment by 2020 or in 2021; 

  5 Member States will start the assessment by the end of 2021 or indicated no date; 

organisational needs assessment: 

  5 Member States have completed the assessment and adopted measures to cope with the 

implementation; 

  14 Member States have completed the assessment but need to adopt measures to cope 

with the implementation; 

  9 Members State will complete the assessment by end of 2020 or beginning of 2021;  

  3 Member States have reported that they have started the assessment but did not indicated 

a final date; 

assessment of impact on national legislation: 

  1 Member State has completed the analysis and approved the amendments; 

  16 Member States have completed the assessment and started the approval of the 

amendments; 

  4 Member States will complete the assessment by the end of 2020;  

  7 Member States will complete the assessment at the beginning or during 2021; 

  3 Member States will complete the assessment by the end of 2021. 

2.3.4.  Summary and risks 

During the reporting period, Member States showed progress in all project preparation areas 
for  the  full  implementation  of  the  Regulations.  Member  States  are  progressing  with  the 
analysis of the requirements  of the system, and  a few Member States have already initiated 
the  development  of  their  national  systems  during  the  reporting  period.  The  approval  of  the 
technical  specifications  for  the  biometric  and  non-biometric  part  of  Central  SIS  during  the 
reporting  period  has  made  it  possible  for  Member  States  to  initiate  those  national 
developments.  Nevertheless,  the main work will  be carried out  in  the next  reporting period, 
starting from 1 October 2020. 

Most of the Member States will be operational  with fingerprint searches by end of 2020, as 
required by the Regulations.  

In their answers to the questionnaire, Member States highlighted several  risk and issues for 
the success of the project at national level, such as: 

 

impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as a general risk of possible delays; 

  ambitious timelines and many projects related to large-scale information systems with 

similar deadlines;  

7 

 
 
  staffing problems, problems with tendering procedures and some issues with internal 

legislative procedures. 

The  Commission  and  eu-LISA  will  continue  to  closely  follow  the  preparatory  activities  by 
Member  States  during  the  regular  meetings  of  the  relative  committee  and  the  Project 
Management Forum. 

2.4.  Agencies 

2.4.1.  Scope and requirements 

This part of the report focuses on preparations done by Europol and the European Border and 
Coast  Guard  Agency  as  the  provisions  impacting  those  agencies  entered  into  application 
already by end 2019. The changes impacting Eurojust are minimal and only apply as from end 
2021.  Eurojust  also  did  not  answer  to  the  questionnaire  but  will  need  to  be  included  in  the 
report covering the next reporting period. 

2.4.2.  Europol 

Europol  already is  a user of the Schengen  Information  System. The Regulations include for 
Europol modifications in the following two areas:  

  access to all categories of alerts, and  

  connection to the SIRENE network.  

The new provisions apply as of the end of 2019. 

By  the  end  of  November  2019,  Europol  concluded  the  technical  preparations  to  enable  the 
existing search interface to access all alerts. In January 2020, Europol was granted technical 
access to all alert types as part of the new Schengen Information System. Europol enabled this 
access  to  its  end-users  after  positive  outcome  of  a  prior  consultation  process  with  the 
European Data Protection Supervisor during the reporting period. 

Europol initially aimed to be ready for the connection to the SIRENE network by end 2020. 
However,  preparations  for  the  setup  of  the  SIRENE  function  at  Europol  continued  during 
2020.  Europol  is  re-designing  the  internal  business  processes  that  will  be  impacted  by  the 
SIRENE information flow and validating the detailed requirements of the SIRENE mail relay 
integration with  the internal  environment  at  Europol.  An interim solution to  enable retrieve, 
process  and  send  SIRENE  messages  is  planned  to  be  ready  for  testing  by  end  of  2020  and 
readiness of Europol to implement the full SIRENE function is planned by end of 2021, not 
by 2020 as previously planned.  

2.4.3.  European Border and Coast Guard Agency  

Under the Regulations, the members of the teams deployed by the European Border and Coast 
Guard Agency have as from end 2019 the right to access all categories of alerts. The members 
of those teams need to access the Schengen Information System through a technical interface 
set  up  and  maintained  by  the  European  Border  and  Coast  Guard  Agency.  In  the  course  of 
2019, the Agency made all the preparations in a form of a project divided in different parts. 

8 

 
 
During the reporting period, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency carried over the 
following activities: 

  approval of a final version of the Project Initiation Document in August 2020; 

 

 

 

in February 2020 a restricted procedure for a Framework Contract for the development of 
a software solution for the European Border and Coast Guard Agency was launched; the 
procedure was delayed due to COVID-19 and it is planned to receive the offer from the 
bidders by end of October 2020; 

the  tender  for  acquisition  of  the  document  readers  and  fingerprint  scanners  will  be  re-
published by end of October 2020; 

the first draft of Standard Operating Procedures has been prepared by the project team and 
consulted  internally  within  the  European  Border  and  Coast  Guard  Agency;  Member 
States’ consultation is ongoing; 

  eu-LISA delivered new hardware for the network connection to the Schengen Information 

System and organised technical workshops to key agency representatives. 

Contrary to what was estimated in 2019, the project is now estimated at a total duration of 31 
months  and  final delivery  date in May 2022. The first  major output of the project  (i.e. web 
application for searches) is estimated to be delivered in November 2021. 

3.  CONCLUSIONS 

During the second reporting period (30 September 2019 – 30 September 2020), the different 
stakeholders have made significant progress to achieve implementation of the Regulations in 
accordance with the defined milestones: 

1)  implementation phase I (as from end 2019): eu-LISA completed by 8 January 2020 the 
necessary  preparations  to  extend  full  access  to  the  Schengen  Information  System  to 
Europol,  and  to  allow  the  European  Border  and  Coast  Guard  Agency  to  connect  to  the 
Schengen  Information  System;  Europol  has  access  to  all  alert  categories;  the  European 
Border  and  Coast  Guard  Agency  continued  the  project  for  allowing  the  members  of  its 
teams to get access to the Schengen Information System in November 2021;  

2)  implementation phase II (by end 2020): at the end of the reporting period, 22 Member 
States have deployed the fingerprint search functionality; five Member States still plan to 
deploy the functionality by the end of  2020; it is estimated that two Member States will 
have a slight delay in the implementation (early 2021); 

3)  implementation  phase  III  (by  end  2021):  during  the  reporting  period,  under  the 
coordination  of  the  Commission  and  eu-LISA,  activities  to  prepare  implementing 
measures and technical specifications required for full implementation of the Regulations 
continued;  the  finalisation  of  some  major  milestones  of  the  preparatory  work  in  2020 
(technical  implementing  acts  and  technical  specifications)  made  it  possible  for  Member 
States  to  start  national  developments  to  be  ready  for  entry  into  operation  by  the  end  of 
2021. 

9 

 
 
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the implementation schedule, but measures put in place 
by the Commission, eu-LISA and Member States in the last months have for the time being 
proven effective and have reduced the negative impact at central and national level.  

Two Member States declared not being able to deploy the fingerprints search functionality by 
the end of 2020, as required by the Regulation. However, the delay is limited to a few months 
and should be accommodated by the beginning of 2021. 

The  Commission  will  continue  to  engage  directly  both  at  political  and  technical  level  and 
monitor, 
the 
implementation of the revised Schengen Information System in the context of interoperability 
of information systems for borders and security. 

the  eu-LISA  Management  Board,  progress 

in  coordination  with 

in 

The  third  status  report  will  describe  the  activities  of  stakeholders  during  the  next  reporting 
period, from 1 October 2020 until 30 September 2021. 

10