Inauguration of the New EU Agency for Large-scale IT Systems

22 March 2012, Tallinn, Estonia

 

A new agency for managing large-scale EU information systems has been inaugurated, but it is due to become fully operational as of December 2012, for ensuring the continuous, uninterrupted exchange of data between EU’s national authorities.

 

The main task will be to en­sure that the Visa Information (VIS) and EURODAC systems operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Also, from March 2013, the agency will also manage the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II).

 

The Agency it will be responsible for matters related to the security of the mention information systems, the communication infrastructure and activities like developing and managing other IT systems, monitoring and reporting, statistics and training for national authorities.

In the area of freedom, security and justice, the three large-scale information technology (IT) systems developed by the European Commission are:

• EURODAC (an IT system for comparing the fingerprints of asylum seekers and irregular migrants)
• The Visa Information System (VIS) (supports the implementation of the common visa policy and facilitates effective border control)
• The second-generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) (facilitate the exchange of information on persons and objects between national border control authorities, police, customs, visa and judicial authorities throughout the Schengen Area)

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