For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:

1. (1)

   ‘external borders’ means external borders as defined in point (2) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;

2. (2)

   ‘border checks’ means border checks as defined in point (11) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;

3. (3)

   ‘border authority’ means the border guard assigned in accordance with national law to carry out border checks;

4. (4)

   ‘supervisory authorities’ means the supervisory authority referred to in Article 51(1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and the supervisory authority referred to in Article 41(1) of Directive (EU) 2016/680;

5. (5)

   ‘verification’ means the process of comparing sets of data to establish the validity of a claimed identity (one-to-one check);

6. (6)

   ‘identification’ means the process of determining a person's identity through a database search against multiple sets of data (one-to-many check);

7. (7)

   ‘alphanumeric data’ means data represented by letters, digits, special characters, spaces and punctuation marks;

8. (8)

   ‘identity data’ means the data referred to in Article 27(3)(a) to (e);

9. (9)

   ‘fingerprint data’ means fingerprint images and images of fingerprint latents, which due to their unique character and the reference points contained therein enable accurate and conclusive comparisons on a person's identity;

10. (10)

    ‘facial image’ means digital images of the face;

11. (11)

    ‘biometric data’ means fingerprint data or facial images or both;

12. (12)

    ‘biometric template’ means a mathematical representation obtained by feature extraction from biometric data limited to the characteristics necessary to perform identifications and verifications;

13. (13)

    ‘travel document’ means a passport or other equivalent document entitling the holder to cross the external borders and to which a visa can be affixed;

14. (14)

    ‘travel document data’ means the type, number and country of issuance of the travel document, the date of expiry of the validity of the travel document and the three-letter code of the country issuing the travel document;

15. (15)

    ‘EU information systems’ means the EES, VIS, ETIAS, Eurodac, SIS and ECRIS-TCN;

16. (16)

    ‘Europol data’ means personal data processed by Europol for the purpose referred to in Article 18(2)(a), (b) and (c) of Regulation (EU) 2016/794;

17. (17)

    ‘Interpol databases’ means the Interpol Stolen and Lost Travel Document database (SLTD database) and the Interpol Travel Documents Associated with Notices database (TDAWN database);

18. (18)

    ‘match’ means the existence of a correspondence as a result of an automated comparison between personal data recorded or being recorded in an information system or database;

19. (19)

    ‘police authority’ means the competent authority as defined in point (7) of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2016/680;

20. (20)

    ‘designated authorities’ means the Member State designated authorities as defined in point (26) of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226, point (e) of Article 2(1) of Decision 2008/633/JHA and point (21) Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1240;

21. (21)
    ‘terrorist offence’ means an offence under national law which corresponds or is equivalent to one of the offences referred to in Directive (EU) 2017/541 of the European Parliament and of the Council35;
22. (22)
    ‘serious criminal offence’ means an offence which corresponds or is equivalent to one of the offences referred to in Article 2(2) of Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA36, if it is punishable under national law by a custodial sentence or a detention order for a maximum period of at least three years;
23. (23)

    ‘Entry/Exit System’ or ‘EES’ means the Entry/Exit System established by Regulation (EU) 2017/2226;

24. (24)

    ‘Visa Information System’ or ‘VIS’ means the Visa Information System established by Regulation (EC) No 767/2008;

25. (25)

    ‘European Travel Information and Authorisation System’ or ‘ETIAS’ means the European Travel Information and Authorisation System established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1240;

26. (26)
    ‘Eurodac’ means Eurodac established by Regulation (EU) No 603/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council37;
27. (27)

    ‘Schengen Information System’ or ‘SIS’ means the Schengen Information System established by Regulations (EU) 2018/1860, (EU) 2018/1861 and (EU) 2018/1862;

28. (28)
    ‘ECRIS-TCN’ means the centralised system for the identification of Member States holding conviction information on third-country nationals and stateless persons established by Regulation (EU) 2019/816 of the European Parliament and of the Council38.