Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on the establishment, operation and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council 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 Regulation (EU) No 515/2014 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1986/2006, Council Decision 2007/533/JHA and Commission Decision 2010/261/EU

On 21 December 2016, the Commission put forward a proposal amending the existing legal framework on the SIS to reinforce the ability of the system to fight terrorism and cross-border crime (COM(2016) 883 final). Following an evaluation of SIS in 2016, this proposal is part of a legislative package of three proposals relating to border management, police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and return of illegally staying third country nationals, respectively.
In April 2017, the European Parliament referred the proposed Regulation (alongside the other two proposals) to the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee. In May, the European Data Protection Supervisor released Opinion 7/2017 that emphasised, inter alia, the lack of an overall impact assessment accompanying the proposal. This view was supported by a letter sent to the President of the Council by the SIS II Supervision Coordination Group in August, highlighting a series of data protection concerns raised by the proposed changes to the Schengen Information System.
The proposed Regulation was discussed by the Council at its meeting of 8-9 June. The Working Party for Schengen Matters (Acquis) also discussed the proposals in several meetings in May, July, September and October 2017. On 8 November, the Committee of the Permanent Representatives of the Governments of the Member States to the European Union (COREPER) agreed to mandate the Presidency to start interinstitutional negotiations on the basis of a revised compromise text.
On 10 November 2017, the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament tabled its report. The rapporteur suggested amendments with regard to the architecture of the system, the circumstances under which access to the system may be granted, data security and data protection and the alert system. He also proposed that the new legal framework should become applicable one year after the entry into force.