Strengthening Schengen security and preventing irregular migration

From 12 October this year (Sunday), the Entry/Exit System (EES) will come into force - a large-scale information system established to prevent illegal migration and increase security in the Schengen area. This system will register the data of third-country nationals travelling on a short-stay visa or exempt from the visa requirement.

How will the Entry/Exit System work?

The Entry/Exit System will replace the current stamping of passports at the external borders of the Schengen area. By recording travelers' data at entry and exit, the system will allow for more efficient border management and faster check-in.

The implementation of the system will be gradual. Schengen countries will have the possibility to start registering travel data at the level of 10% of border crossings. Within six months of the launch of the registration system, all Schengen countries should have fully implemented it.

What data will be processed?

The system will record personal data from travel documents, including:

• name and surname, date and place of birth,
• entry and exit dates,
• biometric data – facial image and fingerprints.

Due to the particularly sensitive nature of this data, it is extremely important to ensure that individuals can effectively exercise their rights, as well as to constantly supervise the processing of personal data.

Protection of personal data and rights of data subjects

Data processing in the Entry/Exit system is carried out under two personal data protection regimes:

1. GDPR (Regulation 2016/679) – applied to the processing of data by border and migration authorities.

2. LED (Directive 2016/680) – used in the case of data processing  by designated authorities of the Member States for the purposes of preventing or combating crime, including terrorism. In Poland, this directive was implemented by the Act on the Protection of Personal Data Processed in Connection with the Prevention and Combating of Crime.

Persons whose data are processed in the EES have the right to:

• access to your data,
• rectification, completion or deletion of data,
• restriction of their processing.

Data processing authorities – m.in border guards, migration services and, in certain cases, law enforcement authorities – are required to ensure that these rights are exercised.

The protection of personal data is a fundamental right that also applies to the processing of data in the Entry/Exit System.

Supervision of data processing

In Poland, the President of the Office for Personal Data Protection supervises the processing of personal data in the Entry/Exit System.

The EES is also subject to a coordinated supervision mechanism that enables cooperation between national data protection authorities and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). This is done within the framework of the Coordinated Supervision Committee.

Under this mechanism, supervisory authorities will:

• exchange information and assist each other with inspections,
• analyze common interpretative and practical problems,
• develop joint proposals for solutions,
• support awareness-raising activities on the rights of persons whose data are processed in the EES.

Regulations

• Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2017 establishing an Entry/Exit System (EES) to register entry and exit data and refusal of entry data of third-country nationals crossing the external borders of the Member States and determining the conditions for access to the EES for law enforcement purposes, and amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement and Regulations (EC) No 767/2008 and (EU) No 1077/2011
• Act on Poland's participation in the Entry/Exit System
• Regulation of the Ministry of the Interior and Administration on the designation of operational units and the acceptance and examination of applications to the central access point for EES data

More information

More information on the functioning of the Entry/Exit system can be found at:

• ·       UODO (Schengen tab)
• ·       National EES Unit – Commander-in-Chief of the Border Guard
• ·       European Commission.