Tallinn, 23 July 2013

COUNCIL OF

THE EUROPEAN UNION

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Interinstitutional File:

2013/0405 (COD)

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12478/13

ACP 126

COAFR 237

PESC 907

RELEX 675

COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS

of 23 July 2013

on establishing an Entry/Exit System and a Registered Traveller Programme

from:

3167th MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

(JUSTICE AND HOME AFFAIRS)

for: The European Parliament for their meeting in political groups on July 24, 2013.

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and in

particular Article 209 (1) and 212 (2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposals from the Commission,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

The Council has

(1) recognized the overall problems related to border control and irregular migration, such as:

(a) absence of any electronic means for recording travel movements;

(b) very limited efficiency of entry-exit systems on national level1;

(c) the absence of any information about third country nationals staying in the Schengen

area and complying with the maximum allowed short stay of up to three months in any

six-month period of time;

(d) difficulties in detecting and identifying overstayers;

1 Currently thirteen Member States are using national level entry-exit system: Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Cyprus,

Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Finland.

(e) the time-consuming and outdated nature of the current stamping obligation;

(2) acknowledged the fact that it is extremely difficult to manage irregular immigration on a

national level;

(3) discussed on connecting the SIRENE programme to the EES;

(4) negotiated on the issues regarding methods for identification (fingerprints and retinal

scans);

(5) expressed concerns on protection of personal data, cyber security and privacy;

(6) discussed the possibility of external auditing;

(7) discussed the possibility of including data similar to that held in the Visa Information

System (VIS), such as the address of the accommodation provider or place of residence in the

EU, the final destination, and the purpose of travel for the efficiency of the EES;

(8) considered extending the retention period for data storage.

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

(1) to reject the proposal of the Commission about the EES2 due to

(a) budget constraints and lack of auditing;

(b) excessive monitoring;

(c) data protection issues;

(d) political and economic challenges in international relations with third countries it might

bring;

(2) to ask the Commission to ensure that

(a) the possibility of leaking personal data have to be minimised by appropriate technical

measures;

(b) the budget will not be exceeded;

(3) to reject the proposal of the Commission about the RTP3 due to the essential role of EES

which was rejected.

Done at Tallinn,

For the Council

The President

2 Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an Entry/Exit System (EES)

to register entry and exit data of third country nationals crossing the external borders of the Member States of the

European Union. COM(2013) 95 final. 2013/0057 (COD). 3 Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a Registered Traveller

Programme. COM(2013) 97 final. 2013/0059 (COD).