Monday 24 August 2009

Yet another Agency: The Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice [supplemented]

According to the German tech news heise.de (quoting Austrian sources), Estonia is the only country applying to host the future
Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice.
The Agency, which is part of a larger legislative package around the Schengen Information System (SIS) infrastructure that will see its second generation (SIS II) implemented, is not yet created; the respective proposal has been forwarded by the Commission to the Council and the Parliament on 26 June 2009 (see PRELEX).

The Council Working Group Schengen Acquis – Mixed Committee (EU-Iceland/ Norway/ Switzerland/ Liechtenstein) will discuss the issue on 9 September 2009 (agenda), and
"[m]ember States are invited to compose their delegations with expertise on both the institutional aspect of establishing rules for EU-agencies and know-how on effective IT-management".
It is unclear when the Parliament will deal with the topic.

PS.: Let me also remind in this context that there will be a massive data collection exercise at the EU/Schengen borders starting in one week.

Supplement:

I would like to share the comment by Mariya to this post, which adds some more content to the debate around this new agency:
Indeed, yet another agency with yet another long name. Stay tuned for another fancy acronym. Though nothing beats my favorite 'SISone4all'.

What I find more interesting though is the legal basis for this agency. According to the Commission, "The present package of legal instruments combines two legal instruments: a Regulation governing the first-pillar aspects of SIS II and VIS as well as EURODAC and a Decision regarding third-pillar aspects of SIS II and VIS".

It should make for an interesting battle between the Council and the EP. The proposal is also intriguing from another perspective: it is presented in a way that suggests that it is a mere technical issue and is mainly (if at all) justified in terms of efficiency. Undoubtedly, this makes it easier to sell but there is no mention of the normative consequences of such decision for, among others, data protection. Also, I would have liked to see how this is a part of a bigger strategy for the development of JHA policy. As it stands, it smacks of an attempt to introduce e-borders in the same way as the US has done.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed, yet another agency with yet another long name. Stay tuned for another fancy acronym. Though nothing beats my favorite 'SISone4all'. What I find more interesting though is the legal basis for this agency. According to the Commission, "The present package of legal instruments combines two legal instruments: a Regulation governing the first-pillar aspects of SIS II and VIS as well as EURODAC and a Decision
regarding third-pillar aspects of SIS II and VIS". It should make for an interesting battle between the Council and the EP. The proposal is also intriguing from another perspective: it is presented in a way that suggests that it is a mere technical issue and is mainly (if at all) justified in terms of efficiency. Undoubtedly, this makes it easier to sell but there is no mention of the normative consequences of such decision for, among others, data protection. Also, I would have liked to see how this is a part of a bigger strategy for the development of JHA policy. As it stands, it smacks of an attempt to introduce e-borders in the same way as the US has done.

Julien Frisch said...

Thanks Mariya for this interesting comment. I will copy it into the main text.