Schengen Information System

Schengen Information System, also known as SIS, is an information system used in a number of European countries that provides data on persons or objects, as recorded by the participant countries. Data entries include, for example, people under an arrest warrant or missing objects. This information is shared among its users, mostly signatories of the Schengen treaty, which includes the countries of France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Since its formation, several other European nations have joined the system, namely Greece, Austria, Iceland, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Norway and non signatories Ireland and UK bringing the total of the treaty parties to 17. All countries, except for Iceland and Norway, are European Union members.

Related Topics:
European - Schengen treaty - France - Germany - Belgium - Netherlands - Luxembourg - Greece - Austria - Iceland - Sweden - Finland - Denmark - Italy - Portugal - Spain - Norway - Ireland - UK

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In SIS, information is stored according to local legislation of the reporting country. It has over a million individual entries, containing the following data entries about the recorded persons:

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• name and forename, any aliases possibly registered separately;
• any particular objective and permanent physical features;
• first letter of second forename;
• date and place of birth;
• sex;
• nationality;
• whether the persons concerned are armed;
• whether the persons concerned are violent;
• reason for the report;
• action to be taken.

A second, more complex version is being planned (SIS II), with the aim of becoming an investigation system, superseding the current reporting system, which has become technically outdated and inadequately resourced to handle the increase in the number of participant countries. The new system would contain more data categories, cf. person and object categories in the current implementation of SIS. Also the list of authorities that have the access to the system would be extended to include, for example, juridical authorities, Europol, and security services. A person's SIS file could be accessed by hand-held computers across Europe, and would be accessible to police, customs and border officials when conducting checks of personal documentation.

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