Commission Decision of 4 March 2008 adopting the SIRENE Manual and other implementing measures for the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) (notified under document number C(2008) 774) (Only the Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish texts are authentic) (2008/333/EC)

2.8. The right to access and rectify data (Articles 41 of the SIS II Regulation and 58 of the SIS II Decision)(2) U.K.

The right of persons to have access to data, which relates to them and has been entered in the SIS II in accordance with the SIS II legal instruments, shall be exercised in accordance with the law of the Member State before which they invoke that right. U.K.

The individual concerned shall be informed as soon as possible and in any event within 60 calendar days from the date on which he/she applied for access, or sooner if national law so provides.

A Member State, which has not issued the alert, may communicate information to the person concerned only if it has previously given the Member State issuing the alert an opportunity to state its position.

Any person has the right to have factually inaccurate data relating to him or her corrected or to have unlawfully stored data relating to him or her deleted.

The individual shall be informed about the follow-up given to the exercise of these rights as soon as possible and in any event not later than three months from the date of his/her original application. The individual shall be informed sooner if national law so provides.

2.8.1. Requests for access to or rectification of data U.K.

Without prejudice to national law, if the national authorities are to be informed of a request to access or rectify data, then the exchange of information will take place according to the following rules:

(a)

each SIRENE Bureau applies its national legislation on the right to access personal data. Depending on the circumstances of the case and in accordance with the applicable legislation, the SIRENE Bureaux shall either forward any requests they receive for access to or for rectification of data to the competent national authorities, or they shall adjudicate upon these requests within the limits of their remit.

(b)

If the national authorities responsible so ask, the SIRENE Bureaux of the Member States concerned shall, in accordance with their national law, forward them information on exercising the right to access data.

2.8.2. Exchange of information on requests for access to alerts issued by other Member States U.K.

As far as it is possible, information on requests for access to alerts entered into the SIS II by another Member State shall be exchanged via the national SIRENE Bureaux using a K form.

The following procedure shall apply:

(a)

the request for access shall be forwarded to the Member State that issued the alert as soon as possible, so that it can take a position on the question;

(b)

the issuing Member State shall inform the Member State that received the request of its position;

(c)

it shall take into account any deadlines for processing the request set by the Member State that received the request for access.

If the Member State that issued the alert sends its position to the SIRENE Bureau of the Member State that received the request for access, the SIRENE Bureau, according to national legislation and within the limits of its remit, shall either adjudicate upon the request or shall ensure that the position is forwarded to the authority responsible for adjudication of the request as soon as possible.

2.8.3. Exchange of information on requests to rectify or delete data entered by other Member States U.K.

When a person requests to have his or her data rectified or deleted, this may only be done by the Member State that issued the alert. If the person addresses a Member State other than the one that issued the alert, the SIRENE Bureau of the requested Member State shall inform the person about the need to contact the issuing Member State and shall provide him or her with the contact details of the competent authority of the issuing Member State.

(1)

This text is identical to the text in the Annex to Commission Decision 2008/334/JHA (see page 41 of this Official Journal).

(2)

Some information on access and rectifications procedures in the Member States can be found on the Commission's website: http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/index_en.htm.