Article 1

1.

A system for the exchange of visa data between Member States, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Visa Information System’ (VIS), is hereby established, which shall enable authorised national authorities to enter and update visa data and to consult these data electronically.

F12.

The Visa Information System shall be based on a centralised architecture and consist of:

(a)

the common identity repository central infrastructure as referred to in Article 17(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 of the European Parliament and of the Council 7 ;

(b)

a central information system, hereinafter referred to as ‘ the Central Visa Information System ’ (CS-VIS);

(c)

an interface in each Member State, hereinafter referred to as the ‘ National Interface ’ (NI-VIS), to provide the connection to the relevant central national authority of the respective Member State;

(d)

a communication infrastructure between the Central Visa Information System and the National Interfaces;

(e)

a Secure Communication Channel between the EES Central System and the CS-VIS;

(f)

a secure communication infrastructure between the VIS Central System and the central infrastructure of the European search portal established by Article 6(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817 and of the common identity repository established by Article 17(1) of Regulation (EU) 2019/817.