The European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, on November, 8th, 2008, the Regulation (EC) Nº 1104/2008, of October 24th, 2008, on migration from the Schengen Information System (SIS 1+) to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II).

The Schengen Information System (SIS) set up under the provisions of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of June 1985, between the Governments of the States of the Benelux Economic Union, the Federal Republic of Germany and the French Republic, on the gradual abolition of checks at their common borders, and the further development of SIS 1+, constitute essential tools for the application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis as integrated into the framework of the European Union.

The SIS is an information system which allows national authorities responsible for border controls and other police and customs checks carried out on their countries, the coordination of such controls, as well as the judicial authorities of those countries, to obtain information about people or goods.

The development of the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) was entrusted to the Commission. Early this year, in April 2008, the Commission put forward a proposal for the migration from Schengen Information System SIS 1+, to the second generation system SIS II, whose objective was the establishment of the legal framework for such migration.

Following such Proposal, and taking into account its provisions, the Council has decided to adopt Regulation (EC) Nº 1014/2008, therefore replacing Schengen Information System SIS 1+, by the new Schengen Information System SIS II, whose establishment, operation and use is regulated by Regulation (EC) Nº 1987/2006.

This Regulation defines the tasks and responsibilities of the Commission and the Member States participating in SIS 1+ with respect to:

• The maintenance and continuation of the development of SIS II
• A comprehensive test of SIS II
• A test on supplementary information
• The continuation of the development and testing of a converter
• The establishment and testing of a provisional migration architecture
• The migration from SIS 1+ to SIS II

For the migration from C.SIS to Central SIS II, France will make available the SIS 1+ database and the Commission will introduce the SIS 1+ database into Central SIS II.

The Member States participating in SIS 1+ will migrate from N.SIS to N.SIS II using the interim migration architecture, with the support of France and of the Commission, by September 30th, 2009 at the latest.

The migration of the national system from SIS 1+ to SIS II consists of the data loading of N.SIS II, when that N.SIS II is to contain a data file, the national copy, containing a complete or partial copy of the SIS II database, followed by a switchover from N.SIS to N.SIS II for each Member State. The migration will follow a detailed schedule provided by the Commission and the Member States participating in SIS 1+ acting within the Council.

Main responsibilities in the development of SIS II

1. The Commission will continue to develop the Central SIS II, the communication infrastructure and the converter.
2. France will make available and operate C.SIS in accordance with the provisions of the Schengen Convention.
3. The Member States will continue to develop N.SIS II.
4. The Member States participating in SIS 1+ will maintain N.SIS in accordance with the provisions of the Schengen Convention.
5. The Member States participating in SIS 1+ will make available and operate the communication infrastructure for SIS 1+.
6. The Commission will coordinate the activities and provide the necessary support for the implementation of the tasks and responsibilities referred to in points 1 to 3.

Regulation (EC) Nº 1104/2008, will enter into force November, 11th, 2008, and will expire on a date to be fixed by the Council, , in any case no later than on June, 30th, 2010.