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CHAPTER XIVU.K.FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 66U.K.Monitoring and statistics

1.The Management Authority shall ensure that procedures are in place to monitor the functioning of SIS II against objectives, relating to output, cost-effectiveness, security and quality of service.

2.For the purposes of technical maintenance, reporting and statistics, the Management Authority shall have access to the necessary information relating to the processing operations performed in Central SIS II.

3.Each year the Management Authority shall publish statistics showing the number of records per category of alert, the number of hits per category of alert and how many times SIS II was accessed, in total and for each Member State.

4.Two years after SIS II is brought into operation and every two years thereafter, the Management Authority shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the technical functioning of Central SIS II and the Communication Infrastructure, including the security thereof, and the bilateral and multilateral exchange of supplementary information between Member States.

5.Three years after SIS II is brought into operation and every four years thereafter, the Commission shall produce an overall evaluation of Central SIS II and the bilateral and multilateral exchange of supplementary information between Member States. This overall evaluation shall include an examination of results achieved against objectives, and an assessment of the continuing validity of the underlying rationale, the application of this Decision in respect of Central SIS II, the security of Central SIS II and any implications for future operations. The Commission shall transmit the evaluation to the European Parliament and the Council.

6.Member States shall provide the Management Authority and the Commission with the information necessary to draft the reports referred to in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5.

7.The Management Authority shall provide the Commission with the information necessary to produce the overall evaluations referred to in paragraph 5.

Article 67U.K.Regulatory Committee

1.Where reference is made to this Article, the Commission shall be assisted by a regulatory Committee composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the Chair may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majority laid down in Article 205(2) of the EC Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the Committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The Chair shall not vote.

2.The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure on a proposal made by the Chair on the basis of standard rules of procedure which have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

3.The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if they are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee. If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the opinion of the Committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall, without delay, submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken.

4.The Council may act by qualified majority on the proposal, within a period of two months from the date of referral to the Council. If within that period the Council has indicated by qualified majority that it opposes the proposal, the Commission shall re-examine it. It may submit an amended proposal to the Council, re-submit its proposal or present a legislative proposal. If on the expiry of that period the Council has neither adopted the proposed implementing act nor indicated its opposition to the proposal for implementing measures, the proposed implementing act shall be adopted by the Commission.

5.The Committee referred to in paragraph 1 shall exercise its function from 23 August 2007.

Article 68U.K.Amendment of the provisions of the Schengen acquis

1.For the purposes of matters falling within the scope of the EU Treaty, this Decision shall replace on the date referred to in Article 71(2) the provisions of Articles 64 and 92 to 119 of the Schengen Convention, with the exception of Article 102 A thereof.

2.For the purposes of matters falling within the scope of the EU Treaty, this Decision shall replace, on the date referred to in Article 71(2), the following provisions of the Schengen acquis implementing those Articles(1):

(a)Decision of the Executive Committee of 14 December 1993 on the Financial Regulation on the costs of installing and operating the Schengen information system (C.SIS) (SCH/Com-ex (93) 16);

(b)Decision of the Executive Committee of 7 October 1997 on the development of the SIS (SCH/Com-ex (97) 24);

(c)Decision of the Executive Committee of 15 December 1997 amending the Financial Regulation on C.SIS (SCH/Com-ex (97) 35);

(d)Decision of the Executive Committee of 21 April 1998 on C.SIS with 15/18 connections (SCH/Com-ex (98) 11);

(e)Decision of the Executive Committee of 25 April 1997 on awarding the contract for the SIS II Preliminary Study (SCH/Com-ex (97) 2 rev. 2);

(f)Decision of the Executive Committee of 28 April 1999 on C.SIS installation expenditure (SCH/Com-ex (99) 4);

(g)Decision of the Executive Committee of 28 April 1999 on updating the SIRENE Manual (SCH/Com-ex (99) 5);

(h)Declaration of the Executive Committee of 18 April 1996 defining the concept of alien (SCH/Com-ex (96) decl. 5);

(i)Declaration of the Executive Committee of 28 April 1999 on the structure of SIS (SCH/Com-ex (99) decl. 2 rev.);

(j)Decision of the Executive Committee of 7 October 1997 on contributions from Norway and Iceland to the costs of installing and operating of the C.SIS (SCH/Com-ex (97) 18).

3.For the purposes of matters falling within the scope of the EU Treaty, references to the replaced Articles of the Schengen Convention and relevant provisions of the Schengen acquis implementing those Articles shall be construed as references to this Decision.

Article 69U.K.Repeal

Decision 2004/201/JHA, Decision 2005/211/JHA, Decision 2005/719/JHA, Decision 2005/727/JHA, Decision 2006/228/JHA, Decision 2006/229/JHA, and Decision 2006/631/JHA are repealed on the date referred to in Article 71(2).

Article 70U.K.Transitional period and budget

1.Alerts shall be transferred from SIS 1+ to SIS II. The Member States shall ensure, giving priority to alerts on persons, that the contents of the alerts that are transferred from SIS 1+ to SIS II satisfy the provisions of this Decision as soon as possible and within three years after the date referred to in Article 71(2) at the latest. During this transitional period, the Member States may continue to apply the provisions of Articles 94, 95, and 97-100 of the Schengen Convention to the contents of the alerts that are transferred from SIS 1+ to SIS II subject to the following rules:

(a)in the event of a modification of, an addition to or a correction or update of the content of an alert transferred from SIS 1+ to SIS II, the Member States shall ensure that the alert satisfies the provisions of this Decision as from the time of that modification, addition, correction or update;

(b)in the event of a hit on an alert transferred from SIS 1+ to SIS II, the Member States shall examine the compatibility of that alert with the provisions of this Decision immediately but without delaying the action to be taken on the basis of that alert.

2.The remainder of the budget at the date set in accordance with Article 71(2), which has been approved in accordance with the provisions of Article 119 of the Schengen Convention, shall be paid back to the Member States. The amounts to be repaid shall be calculated on the basis of the contributions from the Member States as laid down in the Decision of the Executive Committee of 14 December 1993 on the financial regulation on the costs of installing and operating the Schengen Information System.

3.During the transitional period referred to in Article 15(4), references in this Decision to the Management Authority shall be construed as references to the Commission.

Article 71U.K.Entry into force, applicability and migration

1.This Decision shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2.It shall apply to the Member States participating in SIS 1+ from dates to be fixed by the Council, acting by the unanimity of its Members representing the Governments of the Member States participating in SIS 1+.

3.The dates referred to in paragraph 2 shall be fixed after:

(a)the necessary implementing measures have been adopted;

(b)all Member States fully participating in SIS 1+ have notified the Commission that they have made the necessary technical and legal arrangements to process SIS II data and exchange supplementary information;

(c)the Commission has declared the successful completion of a comprehensive test of SIS II, which shall be conducted by the Commission together with the Member States, and the preparatory bodies of the Council have validated the proposed test result and confirmed that the level of performance of SIS II is at least equivalent to that achieved with SIS 1+;

(d)the Commission has made the necessary technical arrangements for allowing Central SIS II to be connected to N.SIS II of the Member States concerned.

4.The Commission shall inform the European Parliament of the results of the tests carried out in accordance with paragraph 3(c).

5.Any Decision of the Council taken in accordance with paragraph 2 shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.