Upgrade, the Schengen Information System (SIS) came into service yesterday, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. It is considered by the European Commission as the largest information sharing system for security and border management in Europe.
The commission specifies, in a press release, that this new system provides information on the persons wanted or disappeared, nationals of third countries without legal right to stay in the Union and the lost or stolen objects.
“The renewed SIS is the foundation of the most advanced border management system in the world that we build,” said the Commission, noting that the SIS will be part of the interoperability architecture, alongside the entry/exit system (EES) and the European Information and Travel Authorization System (ETIAS).
The new SIS is being improved to include new alert categories, biometric data such as palmar fingerprints, fingerprints and DNA recordings of missing people, as well as additional tools to combat crime and terrorism.
According to the Commission, this upgrade is important because it will also allow preventive alerts to protect vulnerable people and determine irregular migration. Updates that aim to provide national authorities more complete and reliable information to improve border security and management in Europe.
The SIS was created in 1995 following the abolition of EU interior border controls. According to the press release, the system assessment in 2016 confirmed its remarkable success, but also identified possibilities of further improve the efficiency and efficiency of the SIS, in order to better meet the increasingly complex security challenges.
Now, the question that we must ask ourselves of Tunisians: will this new information system more harm the conditions for granting Schengen visas for our nationals? There is no doubt about this, especially since the SIS is linked to other systems (Eurodac and the visa information system (VIS), which hold the fingerprints of visa and asylum seekers), and which is used as a police, anti -terrorism and immigration control tool.
