Information sharing of data related to cross-border movement: travellers and migrants' data protection

According to the current regulatory framework, three systems govern the data acquisition, the data retention and the information sharing related to the third-country citizens, travellers and migrants. First, the Schengen Information System (SIS) aims at ensuring a high level of security within the AFSJ through the sharing of a broad spectrum of alerts on persons (Eu and third-country citizens). Secondly, the Visa Information System (VIS) rules the exchanging of visa data between Member States in the purpose of improving the implementation of the common visa policy and facilitating the fight against fraud. Lastly, the Eurodac system is established to collect and transmit fingerprint data of asylum applicants and third-country nationals who have crossed the external borders irregularly or who are illegally staying in a MS. Eurodac was created to assist MS in application of the Dublin regulation, but it is also available for the comparison of fingerprint data for prevention, detection or investigation on terrorist or other serious criminal offences. All this information is managed by the European agency EU-Lisa. In the first part, the article will examine whether an effective data protection is guaranteed. In the second part, the analysis will be focused on the recent developments of these systems. In addition, a new centralised database has been established: the Entry/Exit System (EES) which will electronically register personal data of third-country nationals visiting the Schengen area for a short stay; the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), which will gather information of visa-exempt third-country national; and the European Criminal Records Information System for third-country nationals (ECRIS-TCN) that will share information on previous convictions against third-country nationals. All the information systems will be managed by new interoperability components that will allow to detect multiple identities and counter identity fraud. The purpose of the last part of the Article is to evaluate whether the massive data collection and the enhancement of the information systems and information sharing fulfil the necessity and proportionality requirement and whether the data protection of the third-country travelers and migrants is effective.