General Description
In the SIS, information is stored according to the legislation of each country. There are more than 31 million entries, each containing information items such as:
- First and last names; middle initial
- Possible objective and permanent physical characteristics
- Date of birth
- Birthplace
- Sex
- Nationality
- Any aliases they may be using
- Whether the person in question was armed and/or violent
- Reason for the alert
- Action to be taken if person encountered
- Lost, stolen, or misappropriated firearms alert
- Lost, stolen, or misappropriated identity documents alert
- Lost, stolen, or misappropriated blank identity documents alert
- Lost, stolen, or misappropriated motor vehicles alert
- Lost, stolen, or misappropriated banknotes alert.
A second version of the system (SIS II) is in preparation. SIS II will include the ability to store new types of data and further integrate with the new Member States of the Union. The SIS II system will also be open to use by a greater number of institutions (for example, by legal authorities, by Europol, and by the security services). Personal data will be readable through one centralized data system in all Europe, by the police force and by customs during identity checks. (Although this type of implementation yet remains in the future, local use would be under the responsibility and limited by the technical capabilities of each Member State.) Some would like to use these technical changes to allow the system to be used for investigative purposes, but a great number of Member States wish the function of SIS system to remain strictly limited to police alter identity checks, leaving the role of cross-border criminal investigation to Europol.
Read more about this topic: Schengen Information System
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