Article 48(4) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 provides for the determination of the sequence of the regions for the VIS deployment based on the following criteria: the risk of irregular immigration, threats to the internal security of the Member States and the feasibility of collecting biometrics from all locations in the region concerned.

The Commission has made an assessment for the different regions taking into account, for the first criterion, elements such as the average visa refusal rates, the entry refusal rates and the rates of third country nationals detected as irregularly present in the territory of the Member States; for the second criterion, a threat assessment performed by Europol; and for the third criterion, the fact that the level of consular presence or representation has increased in all regions worldwide since the adoption of Decision 2010/49/EC.

According to this assessment, the subsequent regions where the collection and transmission of visa data to the VIS should start for all visa applications should be: West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Central Asia, South East Asia.

The occupied Palestinian territory was excluded from the Near East region, which was covered by Decision 2010/49/EC, due to the technical difficulties that could be encountered in the equipping of the consular posts or offices concerned. To avoid a gap when fighting irregular immigration and protecting internal security and taking into account the time left to Member States to solve the technical difficulties, the occupied Palestinian territory should be the 11th region where the collection and transmission of visa data to the VIS should start for all visa applications.

The starting date of the operations in each of these regions is to be determined by the Commission pursuant to Article 48(3) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008.

For the determination of the further regions, subsequent decisions should be taken at a later stage on the basis of an additional and updated assessment of these other regions in accordance with the relevant criteria and the experience with the implementation in the regions determined by Decision 2010/49/EC and by the present Decision.

Given that the VIS Regulation builds upon the Schengen acquis, Denmark notified the implementation of the VIS Regulation in its national law in accordance with Article 5 of the Protocol on the position of Denmark annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community. Denmark is therefore bound under international law to implement this Decision.

As regards Cyprus, this Decision constitutes an act building upon, or otherwise related to, the Schengen acquis within the meaning of Article 3(2) of the 2003 Act of Accession.

As regards Bulgaria and Romania, this Decision constitutes an act building upon or otherwise related to the Schengen acquis within the meaning of Article 4(2) of the 2005 Act of Accession.