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dossier	COM(2020)428 - State of play of preparations for the full implementation of the Interoperability Regulations in accordance with Regulation ...
document	COM(2020)428
date	August 21, 2020

agreement had been reached between the European Parliament and Council during the interinstitutional discussions. The forum acknowledged the immediate priority of focusing on full implementation of the new architecture for EU information systems for borders, migration and security. To support this, the Commission had envisaged a scoreboard in view of establishing effective monitoring and coordination arrangements. The aim was to adopt a light-touch approach working with national coordinators, who should ensure that all stakeholders are fully aware. Particular attention had to be given to financial and human resource needs, including training of end-users so that the implementation respects the schedule. It was also acknowledged that the eu-LISA management board had a technical coordination responsibility under the various pieces of legislation, and that the Justice and Home Affairs Council should regularly include on its agenda the state of play of the implementation.

In November 2019, the second forum acknowledged the value of meeting on a regular basis, and of the scoreboard as a tool for helping all – Member States, Union agencies and the Commission – to continue to progress together in developing and implementing the new IT architecture for borders, migration and security. Financial and human resource needs continued to be identified as a major issue. Therefore, it was suggested that all involved parties should prepare indicative multiannual resource plans. The Commission also proposed to develop a platform to gather information, including on best practices, and make it readily available to all to facilitate exchanges and progress. It was also recognised that as implementation progressed, greater focus would have to be given to operational and practical implementation.

A third forum took place – by videoconference – in May 2020. The Commission provided its assessment of the overall state of play based on a scoreboard covering the major requirements of implementation:

·Implementation has progressed over the past year but challenges remain. Member States should ensure high-level political support.

·Member States should finalise their assessment of the necessary national legislation and prepare it accordingly.

·Overall, good progress was noted on governance arrangements.

·Member States should rapidly estimate their resourcing needs and secure them.

In parallel to the implementation of the Interoperability Regulations, related development of individual IT systems, both existing and new, are also ongoing. As the new overall architecture is developed, it is vital for the implementation of the Interoperability Regulations that all the individual systems are fully operational too. Concerning progress on the individual systems, the Commission expressed concerns about the results regarding the Entry/Exit System development. Although the testing period is planned to start by the end of this year, Member States indicated a low level of readiness for implementation of the system at national level. This could have negative impacts on its start of operations. In light of this, Member States should speed up the internal procedures to mobilise the necessary human resources, and to speed up the procurement process, due last year, for the adaptation of their national systems in view of connecting to the central Entry/Exit System.

The forum was also the occasion for some to raise concerns prompted by the Covid-19 crisis, indicating that this could lead to some delays, notably regarding the start of operations of the Entry/Exit System. Indeed, impacts on the development of the EU information systems, such as the Entry/Exit System, may have repercussions on the development of the interoperability components. However, such impacts are not linear, meaning that while a one-month delay to the start of operations for one IT system should potentially imply a delay of up to one month for the start of operations of the interoperability components, it is also possible that the delay would not delay their start of operations.

Given the current situation, a degree of uncertainty remains for all involved actors as to the effect of the Covid-19 crisis on ongoing projects. The Commission intends to engage with eu-LISA and the Member States in the coming months in order to hold a detailed discussion on the possible impacts of the crisis at the next forum, scheduled for autumn 2020.

During the reporting period, the Council Presidencies continued to show their commitment to implementation, with some holding their own conferences to reach the wider audience concerned. The Commission welcomes such initiatives by Presidencies.

4.Training needs

Throughout the discussions in the three Forum meetings, it has repeatedly been emphasised that interoperability represents more than an IT project. End-users – border guards, asylum authorities, police officers – will need to know exactly how to access information available to them. Training of the staff concerned has been constantly raised as a necessity. Prompted by this awareness, the Commission undertook to organise a Train the Ambassadors event in March 2020, with the aim to provide material to responsible Member State entities to enable them to inform and instruct end-users on the use of the interoperability framework and components. While the physical training event could not take place because of the Covid-19 crisis, the Commission made training material available digitally.

5.Costs and Risks

The Legislative Financial Statement annexed to the European Commission’s proposals for the two Interoperability Regulations reserved an amount of EUR 11,954,000 for the interoperability development in 2020. As mentioned in eu-LISA’s 2nd Interoperability Progress Report ⁴ of June 2020, an amount of EUR 1,718,606 has been so far utilised to support interoperability preparation activities.

Under the Internal Security Fund, there is no budget allocated to Member States in 2020 specifically for interoperability. Under the future Multiannual Financial Framework, scheduled to cover the period 2021-2027, EUR 136.3 million is proposed for Member States to cover the changes to their national systems in order to use the interoperability components. These funds are an allocation supporting Member States in their projects and are not a reimbursement of actual incurred costs. As such, these budgets do not face the same risk of having to meet requests for additional funding as the ones attributed to the Union agencies entirely financed by the budget of the Union.

As regards risks of overruns, the Covid-19 crisis will inevitably have an impact on the duration of some individual parts of the overall project to implement the new architecture for EU information systems for borders, migration and security. This impact is currently being assessed in terms of the planned schedule. A longer project duration will likely increase costs. However, as the interoperability development has only just started, there is still room for manoeuvre to mitigate the effect on the overall schedule and cost. At the time of publication of the report, the interoperability project is still on schedule and within its initial budget estimate.

6.Conclusion

In light of the general commitment by all Member States, Schengen associated countries and Union agencies to ensuring full implementation of the Interoperability Regulations, the Commission continues to coordinate and monitor the actions of all involved with a view to having full availability of the new and upgraded IT systems and the interoperability components by the end of 2023.

As noted above, work on the implementation of the Interoperability Regulations is so far on track. However, the implementation of the interoperability framework requires all actors to advance together on all EU information systems and interoperability components. The possibility of delays arising from the Covid-19 crisis, notably on the development of the Entry/Exit System, will have to be kept under surveillance and the Commission will engage with all concerned to gain the clearest possible scenario of potential delays that could arise and to keep any such delays to a minimum to respect the implementation timeline. The Commission is committed to do its utmost, together with the Member States and the Union agencies, to ensure that any impact arising from the Covid-19 crisis on the target date for full implementation is as limited as possible, and that the overall costs envisaged remain within the estimated budget set out in the Legislative Financial Statement.

(1)

   Regulation (EU) 2019/817 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on establishing a
framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of borders and visa and amending Regulations (EC) No 767/2008, (EU) 2016/399, (EU) 2017/2226, (EU) 2018/1240, (EU) 2018/1726 and (EU) 2018/1861 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Decisions 2004/512/EC and 2008/633/JHA;

   Regulation (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration and amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1726, (EU) 2018/1862 and (EU) 2019/816.

(2)

COM/2016/0205 final.

(3)

   Report on the development of interoperability (2019-307).

(4)

   Report on the development of interoperability (2020-148).