Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA)

The establishing Regulation of the European Agency in charge of the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice, (referred to as eu-LISA) was adopted in 2011 (Regulation (EU) No 1077/2011) and amended in 2015 by Regulation (EU) 603/2013. eu-LISA is responsible for the operational management at central level of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II), the Visa Information System (VIS) and Eurodac. The first evaluation concerning the work of the Agency was carried out in 2015-2016 and concluded that eu-LISA effectively carried out the operational management of large-scale IT systems as well as the other tasks entrusted to it, however a number of amendments were necessary.

In response to this evaluation, the Commission published a proposal in June 2017. The proposal aimed to review the Regulation establishing the eu-LISA Agency in order to adapt it to the recommendations for legislative amendments stemming from the evaluation, as well as to improve the functioning of the Agency and strengthening its mandate, so as to allow the agency to perform the necessary actions and develop technical solutions that will facilitate the interoperability of large-scale IT systems.

On 9 October 2017, the European Data Protection Supervisor published its opinion on the proposal.

In the European Parliament, the file of the legislative proposal was assigned to the LIBE Committee. On 18 December 2017, the Committee tabled its report and on 17 January 2018, the decision to enter interinstitutional negotiations was confirmed by the plenary.

On 7 December 2017, the Council agreed on a general approach, which formed the basis for the negotiations with the European Parliament. On 24 May 2018, the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council and the European Parliament came to an informal agreement on the draft regulation. On 5 July 2018 the text was approved by the Plenary of the European Parliament and on 9 November 2018, it was approved by the Council.

The Act received the signature of the European Parliament and of the Council on 14 November 2018. It was published on the Official Journal of the European Union on 21 November 2018.