By Agnes Szucs
BRUSSELS (AA) – The European Union equipped its border protection information system with new features to “prevent and deter” irregular migration, including biometrical data and alerts on return decisions for failed asylum applicants.
The bloc’s border protection and management system, officially named Schengen Information System (SIS), have been upgraded with the aim to build the “foundation of the most advanced border management system in the world”, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.
In addition to fingerprints and photos, the SIS will handle new forms of biometrical data, such as palm prints, fingermarks and palm marks, as well as DNA records for missing people, the EU executive body said in a statement.
The system will also operate with alerts on return decisions on a “third-country national with no legal right to stay in the EU, allowing them to actively follow up on whether the returnee effectively leaves the EU territory.”
Under the new rules, national authorities must create an SIS alert if they decide that a non-EU national cannot legally stay in the EU.
The upgrade will “pave the way for mutual recognition of return decisions between Member States,” as proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The new SIS will also allow border authorities to see additional data, such as identification documents or car details, for suspects of terrorism or serious crime.