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)

2.13. SIRPIT (SIRENE PIcture Transfer) and format and quality of biometric data in SIS II U.K.

Fingerprints and pictures shall be added to the alert entered into the SIS II when available. U.K.

SIRENE Bureaux shall be able to exchange fingerprints and pictures for the purpose of completing the alert. When a Member State has a picture or fingerprints of a person for whom an alert has been issued by another Member State, it may send the pictures and fingerprints via SIRPIT in order to allow the issuing Member State to complete the alert.

This exchange takes place without prejudice to the exchange in the framework of police cooperation in application of the Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA.

2.13.1. Further use of the data exchanged, including archiving U.K.

Any further use of pictures and fingerprints exchanged via SIRPIT, including archiving, shall comply with the relevant provisions of the SIS II legal instruments, Directive 95/46/EC, Convention 108 of the Council of Europe and with the legislation in force in that area in the Member States concerned.

2.13.2. Technical requirements U.K.

Fingerprints and pictures shall be collected and transmitted in accordance with the standards to be defined in the implementing rules for entering biometric data in the SIS II.

Every SIRENE Bureau should fulfil the SIRPIT technical requirements.

Fingerprints and pictures shall be sent in an attachment on an input screen, specially designed for SIRPIT.

2.13.3. Use of the SIRENE L form U.K.

The transmission via SIRPIT shall be announced by sending an L form through the usual channel used for all SIRENE forms. L forms shall be sent at the same time as fingerprints and/or pictures.

2.13.4. SIRPIT procedure U.K.

The SIRENE Bureau of the country who has fingerprints or pictures of the person for whom an alert was issued by another Member State is known hereafter as ‘the providing SIRENE Bureau’. U.K.

The SIRENE Bureau of the country, which has entered the alert into the SIS II, is known hereafter as ‘SIRENE Bureau of the issuing Member State’.

The following procedure shall apply:

(a)

the providing SIRENE Bureau shall send an L form through the usual electronic path and shall mention in field 083 of the L form that the fingerprints and pictures are being sent to complete the alert in the SIS II;

(b)

the SIRENE Bureau of the issuing Member State shall add the fingerprints or pictures to the alert in the SIS II or shall send them to the competent authority to complete the alert.

2.13.4.1. Input screen U.K.

The input mask shall have the following data:

(1)

Schengen ID number (*) (¹);

(2)

reference number (*) (¹);

(3)

date of fingerprints;

(4)

place where fingerprints were taken;

(5)

date of picture;

(6)

reason for fingerprints;

(7)

surname (*) (²);

(8)

forename (*) (²);

(9)

maiden name;

(10)

identity ascertained?;

(11)

date of birth (*);

(12)

place of birth;

(13)

nationality;

(14)

gender (*);

(15)

additional information;

Remarks: U.K.

(*) Mandatory U.K.

(¹) An entry shall be made in either Field 1 or Field 2. U.K.

(²) The option ‘unknown’ may be entered. U.K.

When available, the place where and date on which the fingerprints were taken shall be entered.

2.13.5. Format and quality of biometric data U.K.

All biometric data entered into the system shall have undergone a specific quality check to ensure a minimum quality standard common to all SIS II users.

Before entry, checks shall be carried out at the national level to ensure that:

• fingerprint data is compliant with the ANSI/NIST — ITL 1-2000 specified format, as implemented for the purposes of Interpol and adapted for SIRPIT (SIRENE Picture Transfer),

• photographs, that shall only be used to confirm the identity of a person who has been located as a result of an alphanumeric search made in SIS II, are compliant with the following requirements: full frontal face pictures aspect rate shall be, as far as possible, 3:4 or 4:5. When available, a resolution of at least 480 × 600 pixels with 24 bits of colour depth shall be used. If the image has to be acquired through a scanner, the image size shall be, as far as possible, less than about 200 Kbytes.

(1)

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