SECTION 3 EUROSUR

Article 18EUROSUR

This Regulation establishes EUROSUR as an integrated framework for the exchange of information and for operational cooperation within the European Border and Coast Guard in order to improve situational awareness and to increase reaction capability for the purposes of border management, including the detection, prevention and combating of illegal immigration and cross-border crime and contributing to ensuring the protection and saving the lives of migrants.

Article 19Scope of EUROSUR1.

EUROSUR shall be used for border checks at authorised border crossing points and for external land, sea and air border surveillance, including the monitoring, detection, identification, tracking, prevention and interception of unauthorised border crossings for the purpose of detecting, preventing and combating illegal immigration and cross-border crime and contributing to ensuring the protection and saving the lives of migrants.

EUROSUR shall not be used for any legal or administrative measure taken once the competent authorities of a Member State have intercepted cross-border criminal activities or unauthorised crossings by persons of the external borders.

Article 20EUROSUR components1.

Member States and the Agency shall use EUROSUR for the exchange of information and for the cooperation in the field of border control, taking into account existing information exchange and cooperation mechanisms. EUROSUR shall consist of the following components:

(a)

national coordination centres as referred to in Article 21;

(b)

national situational pictures as referred to in Article 25;

(c)

a European situational picture as referred to in Article 26, including information on external border sections with corresponding impact levels;

(d)

specific situational pictures as referred to in Article 27;

(e)

EUROSUR fusion services as referred to in Article 28;

(f)

integrated planning as referred to in Article 9.

The national coordination centres shall provide the Agency, via the communication network referred to in Article 14 and relevant systems, with information from their national situational pictures and, as appropriate, from specific situational pictures, which is required for the establishment and maintenance of the European situational picture.

The Agency shall give the national coordination centres, via the communication network, unlimited access twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, to specific situational pictures and to the European situational picture.

Article 21National coordination centres1.

Each Member State shall designate, operate and maintain a national coordination centre which shall coordinate, and exchange information among, all authorities having responsibility for external border control at national level, as well as with the other national coordination centres and the Agency. Each Member State shall notify the establishment of its national coordination centre to the Commission, which shall forthwith inform the other Member States and the Agency thereof.

Without prejudice to Article 13 and within the framework of EUROSUR, the national coordination centre shall be the single point of contact for the exchange of information and for the cooperation with other national coordination centres and with the Agency.

The national coordination centres shall:

(a)

ensure the timely exchange of information and timely cooperation between all national authorities having responsibility for external border control at national level, as well as with other national coordination centres and the Agency;

(b)

ensure the timely exchange of information with search and rescue, law enforcement, asylum and immigration authorities and manage the dissemination of relevant information at national level;

(c)

contribute to an effective and efficient management of resources and personnel;

(d)

establish and maintain the national situational pictures in accordance with Article 25;

(e)

support the coordination, planning and implementation of national border control;

(f)

coordinate the national border control systems, in accordance with national law;

(g)

contribute to regularly measuring the effects of national border control for the purposes of this Regulation;

(h)

coordinate operational measures with other Member States and third countries, without prejudice to the competences of the Agency and of the other Member States;

(i)

exchange relevant information with the immigration liaison officers of their Member State, where designated, through appropriate structures established at national level, with a view to contributing to the European situational picture and supporting border control operations;

(j)

under the supervision of the competent national authorities, contribute to the information assurance of national information systems and the Agency's information systems.

Member States may charge regional, local, functional or other authorities which are in a position to take operational decisions with ensuring situational awareness and reaction capability in their respective areas of competence, including the tasks and competences listed in points (c), (e) and (f) of paragraph 3.

The decision of a Member State to allocate tasks in accordance with paragraph 4 shall not affect the national coordination centre in its ability to cooperate and exchange information with other national coordination centres and the Agency.

In pre-defined cases, as determined at national level, a national coordination centre may authorise an authority referred to in paragraph 4 to communicate and exchange information with the regional authorities or the national coordination centre of another Member State or the competent authorities of a third country on condition that such authorised authority regularly informs its own national coordination centre of such communication and exchange of information.

The national coordination centre shall operate twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

Article 22EUROSUR Handbook1.

The Commission shall, in close cooperation with the Agency and any other relevant Union body, office or agency, adopt and make available a practical handbook for the implementation and management of EUROSUR (the ‘EUROSUR Handbook’). The EUROSUR Handbook shall provide technical and operational guidelines, recommendations and best practices, including in relation to cooperation with third countries. The Commission shall adopt the EUROSUR Handbook in the form of a recommendation.

The Commission may decide, after consultation with Member States and the Agency, to classify parts of the EUROSUR Handbook as RESTREINT UE/EU RESTRICTED in compliance with the rules laid down in the Rules of Procedure of the Commission.

Article 23Monitoring of EUROSUR1.

The Agency and the Member States shall ensure that procedures are in place to monitor the technical and operational functioning of EUROSUR against the objectives of achieving an adequate situational awareness and reaction capability at the external borders.

The Agency shall continuously monitor the quality of the service offered by the communication network referred to in Article 14 and the quality of the data shared in the European situational picture.

The Agency shall transmit information collected as part of the monitoring under paragraph 2 to the national coordination centres and the relevant command and control structures used for the Agency's operations as part of the EUROSUR fusion services. Such information shall be classified RESTREINT UE/EU RESTRICTED.