REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the state of play of preparations for the full implementation of the Interoperability Regulations in accordance with Article 78(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 and Article 74(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/818
Date: 2022-10-13
Institutions: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Subjects: EU migration policy, EU visa policy, European Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, Schengen Information System, area of freedom, security and justice, biometrics, data protection, exchange of information, external border of the EU, information system

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 13.10.2022  COM(2022) 524 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 Interoperability Regulations in accordance with Article 78(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 and Article 74(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/818  
 
 
1.  Introduction 

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

On  11  June  2019,  the  Interoperability  Regulations1  entered  into  force.  They  lay  down 
provisions  on  monitoring  and  evaluation  by  the  Commission2  and  the  European  Union 
Agency for the Operational Management of Large-Scale IT Systems in the Area of Freedom, 
Security and Justice (eu-LISA) on the state of implementation of Interoperability.3  

The  Commission  submitted  a  first  report  on  the  implementation  of  the  Interoperability 
Regulations  on  21  August  20204  and  a  second  report  on  10 November  20215.  This  third 
report covers the period between the publication of the previous progress report in November 
2021 and the preparation of this report in July 2022. 

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

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

As  a  joint  endeavour  Interoperability  requires  all  stakeholders  to  work  in  a  coordinated 
manner as delays in one part of the system affect all. In the coming months, the Commission 

1   Regulations (EU) 2019/817 and 2019/818. 
2 

 In  accordance  with  Article  78(5)  of  Regulation  (EU)  2019/817  and  Article  74(5)  of  Regulation  (EU) 
2019/818, the Commission shall submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the state 
of  play  of  preparations  for  the  full  implementation  of  the  Regulations.  The  report  should  include  detailed 
information  about  the  costs  incurred  and  information  as  to  any  risks  that  may  impact  the  overall  costs,  as 
provided  for  in  the  Interoperability  Regulations.  Reports  on  the  state  of  play  of  preparations  for  the  full 
implementation of interoperability are to be submitted by the Commission every year until the dates of the 
start  of  operations  of  the  interoperability  components  are  determined  by  means  of  the  Commission 
implementing acts referred to in Article 72 of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 and Article 68 of Regulation (EU) 
2019/818. 
In  accordance  with  article  74.2  of  the  Interoperability  Regulations,  ,  eu-LISA  has  issued  regular  progress 
reports  on  the  development  of  interoperability:  2019-307,  2020-148,  2020-373,  2021-155  and  2021-390 
REV2 

3  

4    COM(2020) 428 final. 
 COM(2021) 688 final. 
5  

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will continue to closely monitor and support Member States in order to achieve the important 
goal of interoperability within the agreed timeframe. 

2.  State of play  

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

 

IT Systems and their interoperability  

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

In  preparation  for  the  entry  into  operation  of  the  EES  in  May  2023,  all  the  required 
implementing  and  delegated  acts  have  been  adopted6.  The  implementation  of  the  system  is 
entering the final development and testing stages both at central and national level. In view of 
challenges in the timely execution and delivery of the EES at central level, eu-LISA and the 
Commission  engaged  in  discussions  with  representatives  of  the  consortium  developing  the 
EES to reduce as much as possible the risk of further delays. To alleviate pressure on already 
charged  border-crossing  points,  the  Commission  is  assessing  the  possibility  of  allowing 
Member  States,  following  the  entry  into  operation  of  the  EES,  in  exceptional  situations,  to 
temporarily create a certain portion of EES files without biometric data.  

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

The  development  of  the  European  Criminal  Records  Information  System  on  third-country 
nationals (ECRIS-TCN) is progressing for going live in mid-November 2023 in line with the 

6   An  implementing  act  laying  down  rules  on  a  functionality  for  the  centralised  management  of  lists  of 
authorities  for  both  Entry/Exit  Systems  and  Visa  Information  System  is  under  preparation  at  Commission 
level.  

2 

 
 
                                                           
 
latest decision of the JHA Council. As regards the Visa Information System (VIS), work is 
underway  in  the  Commission  for  the  preparation  of  secondary  legislation  necessary  for  the 
development of the revised VIS, also in the context of the wider interoperability framework.  

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

 

Implementing legislation on Interoperability 

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

Since  the  last  progress  report,  the  Commission  continued  to  discuss  in  the  relevant 
committees and expert groups a series of implementing and delegated acts necessary for the 
development of the interoperability components. To date, the vast majority of these acts have 
been  adopted  in  cooperation  with  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  the  EU  as 
foreseen in  the applicable procedures7. The Commission  adopted in  total  3 delegated and  9 
implementing  acts  stemming  from  the  Interoperability  Regulations  on  the  matters  of: 
technical  procedures  and  replies  from  the  European  search  portal  (ESP)  (article  9.7),  the 
performance of the shared biometric matching service (article 13.5), necessary forms in case 
of  a  red  link  (article  32.5)  and  of  a  white  link  (article  33.6),  data  quality  (article  37.4), 
cooperation  procedures  in  case  of  security  incidents  (article  43.5),  on  operation  of  the  web 
portal (article 49.6) and on technical solution to manage law enforcement user access requests 
(article 78.10)8. Three of the already adopted acts are under revision in order to incorporate 
amendments  stemming  from  the  new  Regulation  concerning  the  Visa  Information  System 
(VIS) and consequential amendments to the European Travel Information and Authorisation 
System (ETIAS): the acts on technical rules for creating links between data from different EU 
information systems (article 28.7) and for the ESP user profiles (article 8.2) and the act on the 
Central  Repository  for  Reporting  and  Statistics  (article  39.5).  The  delegated  act  on  the 
procedures to determine the cases in which identity data can be considered to be the same or 
similar  (article  28.5)  was  objected  to  by  the  European  Parliament  in  January  2022.  The 
Commission revised the act in order to address the concerns of the European Parliament as 
well  as  to  incorporate  amendments  stemming  from  the  new  VIS  Regulation  and 
consequential amendments to the ETIAS. The preparation process included due consultation 
of the Interoperability Subgroup of the Expert Group on Information Systems for Borders and 
Security,  with  the  participation  of  experts  from  the  European  Parliament.  The  Commission 
adopted the revised act on same or similar data in July 2022. 

7   In  accordance  with  article  290.2  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  a  delegated  act 
may  enter  into  force  only  if  no  objection  has  been  expressed  by  the  European  Parliament  or  the  Council 
within a period set by the legislative act.  

8   Due to the presence of two Interoperability Regulations, two sets of delegated and implementing  acts with 

similar content had to be adopted. Therefore, the total number of adopted acts is double.  

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

3.  State of implementation by Member States and Union agencies 

The Commission continued to convene on a regular basis meetings with the Member States to 
discuss the implementation of interoperability of large-scale EU information systems. Since 
the  last  progress  report  in  November  2021,  the  Commission  held  eight  Expert  Groups  on 
Interoperability  and  three  Committee  meetings  on  Interoperability  to  discuss  remaining 
delegated  and  implementing  acts  for  adoption  and  revision  as  well  as  to  support  the 
development of an Interoperability Handbook for end-users. 

In  2020,  the  Commission  set  up  a  Rapid  Alert  Process  (RAP-IT)  for  monitoring  the 
implementation and use of the IT systems in the area of migration, security and justice, and 
their interoperability. RAP-IT uses existing means and mechanisms to continuously monitor 
Member States implementation in order to provide feedback and support. Since the creation 
of RAP-IT, the Commission has made use of it for monitoring and information gathering.   

In 2022, the Commission organised with the support of eu-LISA bilateral meetings with over 
fourteen Member States, Schengen Associated  Countries and EU agencies  in  order to  track 
progress, identify areas of potential concern and ensure readiness for the start of operation of 
the EU information systems and their interoperability. In addition, the Commission held, with 
the support of eu-LISA, regular trilateral exchanges with those Member States facing specific 
challenges  in  the  implementation  of  the  interoperability  project  in  order  to  provide  support 
for resolving outstanding issues. 

In  April 2022, the Commission  held  the seventh  Interoperability  Forum  to  discuss progress 
and  outstanding  challenges  in  the  implementation  of  the  new  IT  architecture  for  EU 
information  systems  for  borders,  migration  and  security.  As  per  the  usual  practice,  the 
Commission  consulted  Member  States  and  EU  Agencies  on  their  implementation  progress 
through targeted questionnaires and presented to participants an overview of the state of play 
of  implementation  of  the  new  IT  architecture  for  EU  information  systems  for  borders, 
migration  and  security  by  Member  States  and  EU  agencies.  Targeted  discussions  revolved 
around the readiness of  Member States  and EU  agencies for the entry into  operation of the 
EU  large-scale  information  systems,  progress  achieved  and  outstanding  challenges  for  the 
timely implementation, including in relation to testing, contracts and financing.  

The information exchanges at the Forum showed an overall substantial progress of Member 
States  in  a  number  of  areas  of  preparation  for  the  implementation  of  the  EU  information 
systems  and  their  interoperability.  The  discussions  pointed  to  an  overall  visible  progress  in 
the preparation of the entry into operation for the SIS recast with an overall confidence by the 
Member  States  and  eu-LISA  that  the  milestone  for  the  start  of  operations  will  be  met.  The 
exchanges  with  the  Member  States  highlighted  some  critical  challenges  to  be  addressed  in 
preparation  for  the  EES,  including  delays  by  the  eu-LISA  contractor,  consequences  for 
testing at national level and readiness at border-crossing points. Most Member States reported 
to be on track for a start of operation of ETIAS and work on VIS is ongoing with the aim to 
have  the  system  in  place  as  soon  as  possible.  The  Commission  encouraged  Member  States 
and  eu-LISA  to  bring  any  serious  risks  of  delays  to  the  respective  management  bodies  and 
political level in order to take full consideration any outstanding risks in view of the planning, 

4 

 
 
governance  and  politically  agreed  timelines  for  the  implementation  of  the  new  IT 
architecture. On the basis of outlined progress and outstanding challenges brought forward by 
Member States and eu-LISA, the Justice and Home Affairs Council confirmed changes to the 
implementation timeline at its meeting of 11 July 2022.  

4.  Training needs 

Centrally  coordinated training  at  EU level  is  essential  for ensuring the  correct  and  efficient 
implementation and use of interoperability. The Interoperability Regulations task eu-LISA to 
provide training on the technical use of the interoperability components and requires Member 
States authorities and Union agencies to provide training programmes on data security, data 
quality, data protection rules, the procedures applicable to data processing9. 

The  Commission  continued  to  support  Member  State  and  EU  agencies  with  regard  to 
training,  including  by  providing  relevant  material  and  information  on  the  use  of  the 
interoperability  framework  and  components  in  dedicated  meetings.  The  Commission 
regularly participates and supports in particular CEPOL in the process of identifying training 
needs and it delivered training in relation to the interoperability framework. In particular, the 
Commission supported the work of the new CEPOL Knowledge Centre on Law Enforcement 
Cooperation, Information Exchange and Interoperability (CKC INT), including by appointing 
experts to the relevant work streams. 

The Commission also organised two thematic workshops on Interoperability with a focus on 
various business processes to support Member States in preparation for the implementation of 
interoperability. 

5.  EU funds 

The  Legislative  Financial  Statement  annexed  to  the  European  Commission’s  proposals  for 
the  two  Regulations  establishing  a  framework  for  the  interoperability  of  EU  information 
systems in the area of justice and home affairs indicated that the proposal requires EUR 461 
million budget in total over the period 2019-2027. This amount includes relevant budget for 
the Member States (EUR 136.3 million) for adaptation of their national systems and training 
to end users, for the EBCG Agency (EUR 4.8 million) for a specialised team to support the 
MID  transitional  period,  for  Europol  (EUR  48.9  million)  for  the  necessary  upgrade  of  the 
agency IT systems, for CEPOL (EUR 2.0 million) for training to operational staff and for eu-
LISA  (EUR  261.3  million)  for  the  development  and  maintenance  costs  of  interoperability 
components  as  well  as  for  activities  related  to  migration  of  data,  update,  network,  training 
and  meetings.10  Current  expenditures  are  below  the  amounts  estimated  in  the  legislative 
financial statement and no risk of overspending has been identified to date. 

In line with the Commission proposal for the Interoperability Regulations, the impact on the 
operational  expenditure  for  eu-LISA  for  the  development  of  interoperability  is  estimated  at 
EUR 45.2 million for the year 2021 and EUR 57.9 million in 202211. According to eu-LISA’s 
5th Interoperability Progress Report, by 11 November 2021, the amount of EUR 5.1 million 
has  been  used  to  contract  necessary  development  and  implementation  activities  with  the 

9   Article 76 Regulation (EU) 2019/817, Article 72 Regulation (EU) 2019/818. 
10   COM(2018) 478 final. 
11   COM(2018) 478 final. 

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development  contract  having  been  signed  in  December  2021.  The  agency  reports  that  the 
plans for budget commitments in 2021 have been impacted negatively, among others, by the 
Covid-19  pandemic  affecting  procurement  and  contracting  activities.  As  a  result,  eu-LISA 
had  to  shorten  the  duration  of  some  of  the  planned  activities  and  increase  the  number  of 
parallel activities12. 

Member  States  are  encouraged  to  use  the  available  resources  under  their  Internal  Security 
Fund  programmes  to  implement  the  Interoperability  Regulations.  Member  States  are  also 
invited  to  prioritise  under  the  new  Home  Affairs  Funds  programmes  for  2021-2027,  in 
particular  the  programme  of  the  Instrument  for  Financial  Support  for  Border  Management 
and  Visa  Policy  (BMVI),  actions  for  the  development  and  further  implementation  of  the 
interoperability of EU information systems. In addition, the Commission has set up a Specific 
Action under the BMVI making available a budget of EUR 31.75 million to support Member 
States  to  comply  with  the  implementation  of  the  interoperability  legal  framework. 
Specifically, funds under this specific action can be used for activities such as adaptation of 
national  business  processes,  national  handbooks  and  manuals,  training  of  end  users,  among 
others. The vast majority of Member States have applied for this specific funding in 2022 – 
21 out of 26 eligible Member States.13  

6.  Conclusion 

The  implementation  of  interoperability  is  essential  for  the  European  Union  to  render  the 
European border management system  fit for purpose and capable of  contributing to  a more 
robust control of migration flows and to combatting illegal immigration, terrorism and other 
serious crimes.  

Based  on  the  politically  endorsed  revised  timeline,  all  the  new  IT  systems  related  to  the 
management of the external borders will be finalised by the end of 2023 in accordance with 
the  overall  political  objective.  Concerning  the  interoperability  components,  delays  after  the 
end of 2023 should be reduced to the minimum with the objective of delivering them earlier 
than June 2024.  

The  Commission  will  continue  to  closely  monitor  progress  and  assess  the  risks  for  the 
implementation of the new IT architecture for EU information systems for borders, migration 
and security and their interoperability. It will continue to regularly engage with all concerned 
stakeholders,  including  in  the  framework  of  RAP-IT,  in  order  to  coordinate  and  monitor 
actions,  identify  areas  of  potential  concern  and  reduce  to  a  minimum  risks  related  to  the 
implementation of interoperability and to support timely and efficient implementation of the 
initiative in respect of the politically agreed timeline. 

12  eu-LISA, 5th Interoperability Progress Report 2021-390 REV2. 
13   The  scope  of  the  specific  action  include  all  Member  States  in  the  Schengen  Area  that  operate  external 

borders. This excludes Ireland and Liechtenstein, but includes the Schengen Associated countries. 

6