This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Europol Information System (EIS), a reference system that includes information on serious forms of international crimes, including terrorism, available to the member states and Europol.
Its origin goes back to the foundation of the European Police Office by the Europol Convention, which set the legal basis for the establishment of a “computerized information system” (Title II, Article 7), into which EU Member States could directly input data in compliance with their national procedures, and into which Europol could directly input data supplied by third parties and analysis data, directly accessible for consultation by national units, liaison officers and duly empowered Europol personnel.
Launched and used operationally for the first time in 2005, the EIS was one of the pioneers of information sharing at European level for law enforcement officers, allowing users to easily check whether information on a certain person, car, phone or other object of interest in an investigation was available beyond national or organisational jurisdictions.
The EIS user community has increased significantly throughout the years. In addition to the growth in the number of users, the amount of data processed in the system evolved as well, offering a more efficient possibility for every investigator in the EU to have access to the data hosted at Europol.
This has led to record figures, with more than 14 million searches performed in 2023, and more than 1.7 million data entities available in 2024.
With the adoption of the EU Interoperability Agenda in 2019, the EIS has entered a new era as one of the most important elements of the new architecture.
This is due to the fact that the relevant data stored in the EIS will be part of a systematic verification of administrative applications from non-Schengen citizens entering the Schengen area.
Expected to enter into operation in Q4 2026, the travel applications submitted through the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will be automatically cross-checked against EIS data. In the future, similar processes will be applied for visa applicants (via a revised Visa Information System), asylum seekers and irregular migrants.
Europol marked the EIS 20-year anniversary during the recent Product Management Forum that took place at Europol’s headquarters on 13-14 May.
On this occasion, Europol’s Deputy Executive Director Capabilities, Andrei Linta, said, “All the improvements and the successes of the Europol Information System were possible because of the remarkable commitment of both Europol’s staff and Europol’s partners, from MS and beyond, who made the system faster, better, more accurate and valuable for all its users.
“Personally, I am grateful to each of you: you should be proud of the Europol Information System as much as we are at Europol.”
