Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

SECTION 4 U.K. Situational awareness

Article 24 U.K. Situational pictures

1. The national situational pictures, the European situational picture and the specific situational pictures shall be produced through the collection, evaluation, collation, analysis, interpretation, generation, visualisation and dissemination of information.

The situational pictures referred to in the first subparagraph shall consist of the following information layers:

(a) an events layer that includes events and incidents related to unauthorised border crossings and cross-border crime and, where available, information on unauthorised secondary movements, for the purpose of understanding migratory trends, volume and routes;

(b) an operational layer that contains information on operations, including the deployment plan, area of operations, and the position, time, status and type of assets participating as provided for in the operational plan;

(c) an analysis layer that contains analysed information which is relevant for the purposes of this Regulation and, in particular, is relevant to the attribution of impact levels to the external border sections, such as imagery and geo-data, key developments and indicators, analytical reports, and other relevant supporting information.

2. The situational pictures referred to in paragraph 1 shall allow for the identification and tracing of events, operations and corresponding analysis relating to situations where human lives are at risk.

3. The Commission shall adopt an implementing act laying down the details of the information layers of the situational pictures and the rules for the establishment of specific situational pictures. The implementing act shall specify the type of information to be provided, the entities responsible for collecting, processing, archiving and transmitting specific information, the maximum time limits for reporting, the data security and data protection rules and related quality control mechanisms. That implementing act shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 122(2).

Article 25 U.K. National situational pictures

1. Each national coordination centre shall establish and maintain a national situational picture in order to provide all authorities having responsibility for external border control at national level with effective, accurate and timely information.

2. The national situational picture shall be composed of information collected from the following sources:

(a) the national border surveillance system in accordance with national law;

(b) stationary and mobile sensors operated by national authorities having responsibility for external border surveillance;

(c) patrols on border surveillance and other monitoring missions;

(d) local, regional and other coordination centres;

(e) other relevant national authorities and systems, including immigration liaison officers, operational centres and contact points;

(f) border checks;

(g) the Agency;

(h) national coordination centres in other Member States;

(i) authorities of third countries, on the basis of bilateral or multilateral agreements and regional networks referred to in Article 72;

(j) ship reporting systems in accordance with their respective legal bases;

(k) other relevant European and international organisations

(l) other sources.

3. Each national coordination centre shall attribute a single indicative impact level, ranging from ‘low’ and ‘medium’ to ‘high’ and ‘very high’, to each incident in the events layer of the national situational picture. All incidents shall be shared with the Agency.

4. Each national coordination centre may decide, at the request of the competent national authorities, to restrict access to information related to national security, including military assets, on a need-to-know basis.

5. The national coordination centres of neighbouring Member States may share with each other, directly and in near real time, the situational picture of neighbouring external border sections, including the positions, status and type of own assets operating in the neighbouring external border sections.

Article 26 U.K. European situational picture

1. The Agency shall establish and maintain a European situational picture in order to provide the national coordination centres and the Commission with effective, accurate and timely information and analysis, covering the external borders, the pre-frontier area and unauthorised secondary movements.

2. The European situational picture shall be composed of information collected from the following sources:

(a) national coordination centres, and national situational pictures and information and reports received from immigration liaison officers to the extent required by this Article;

(b) the Agency, including the information and reports provided by its liaison officers in accordance with Articles 31 and 77;

(c) Union delegations and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and operations as provided for in point (j) of the second subparagraph of Article 68(1);

(d) other relevant Union bodies, offices and agencies and international organisations listed in Article 68(1);

(e) authorities of third countries, on the basis of bilateral or multilateral agreements and regional networks as referred to in Article 72, and working arrangements as referred to in Article 73(4);

(f) other sources.

3. The events layer of the European situational picture shall include information relating to:

(a) incidents and other events contained in the events layer of the national situational pictures;

(b) incidents and other events contained in the specific situational pictures as provided for in Article 27;

(c) incidents in the operational area of a joint operation or rapid intervention coordinated by the Agency, or in a hotspot.

4. The operational layer of the European situational picture shall contain information on the joint operations and rapid interventions coordinated by the Agency and on hotspots, and shall include the mission statements, locations, status, duration, information on the Member States and other actors involved, daily and weekly situational reports, statistical data and information packages for the media.

5. Information on own assets in the operational layer of the European situational picture may, where appropriate, be classified as RESTREINT UE/EU RESTRICTED.

6. In the European situational picture, the Agency shall take into account the impact levels that were assigned to specific incidents in national situational pictures by the national coordination centres. For any incident in the pre-frontier area, the Agency shall assign a single indicative impact level and shall inform the national coordination centres thereof.

Article 27 U.K. Specific situational pictures

1. The Agency and the Member States may establish and maintain specific situational pictures in order to support specific operational activities at the external borders or to share information with Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and international organisations listed in Article 68(1) or third countries as provided for in Article 75.

2. The specific situational pictures shall be composed of a subset of information of the national and European situational pictures.

3. The detailed rules for establishing and sharing the specific situational pictures shall be set out in an operational plan for the operational activities concerned and in a bilateral or multilateral agreement where a specific situational picture is established in the framework of bilateral or multilateral cooperation with third countries. Any sharing of information under this paragraph shall be carried out in accordance with the principle of originator's consent.

Article 28 U.K. EUROSUR fusion services

1. The Agency shall coordinate the EUROSUR Fusion Services in order to supply the national coordination centres, the Commission and itself with information on the external borders and on the pre-frontier area on a regular, reliable and cost-efficient basis.

2. The Agency shall provide a national coordination centre, at its request, with information on the external borders of the Member State to which it belongs and on the pre-frontier area which may be derived from:

(a) the selective monitoring of designated third-country ports and coasts which have been identified through risk analysis and information as being embarkation or transit points for vessels or other craft used for illegal immigration or cross-border crime;

(b) the tracking of vessels or other craft over high seas and the tracking of aircraft, where those vessels, other craft or aircraft are suspected of, or have been identified as, being used for illegal immigration or cross-border crime, including in the case of persons in distress at sea, with a view to transmitting that information to the relevant authorities that are competent for search and rescue operations;

(c) monitoring of designated areas in the maritime domain in order to detect, identify and track vessels and other craft being used for, or suspected of being used for, illegal immigration or cross-border crime, including in the case of persons in distress at sea with a view to transmitting that information to the relevant authorities that are competent for search and rescue operations;

(d) monitoring of designated areas of air borders in order to detect, identify and track aircraft and other forms of equipment being used for, or suspected of being used for, illegal immigration or cross-border crime;

(e) environmental assessment of designated areas in the maritime domain and at the external land and air borders in order to optimise monitoring and patrolling activities;

(f) selective monitoring of designated pre-frontier areas at the external borders which have been identified through risk analysis and information as being potential departure or transit areas for illegal immigration or cross-border crime;

(g) monitoring migratory flows towards and within the Union in terms of trends, volume and routes;

(h) media monitoring, open source intelligence and analysis of internet activities in line with Directive (EU) 2016/680 or Regulation (EU) 2016/679, as applicable, for the purpose of preventing illegal immigration or cross-border crime;

(i) analysis of information derived from large-scale information systems for the purpose of detecting changing routes and methods used for illegal immigration and cross-border crime.

3. The Agency may refuse a request from a national coordination centre for technical, financial or operational reasons. The Agency shall notify the national coordination centre in due time of the reasons for such a refusal.

4. The Agency may use, on its own initiative, the surveillance tools referred to in paragraph 2 for collecting information on the pre-frontier area, which is relevant for the European situational picture.