Glossary

SIRENE Contact Person

The SIRENE Address Book (SAB) contains the contact details of the SIRENE Bureaux and relevant information for communication and cooperation between them. 

Each Member State shall designate a national authority which shall be operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and which shall ensure the exchange and availability of all supplementary information in accordance with the SIRENE Manual. SIRENE stands for "Supplementary Information Exchange at the National Entries" .

In cases where standard procedures may be insufficient, the SIRENE Contact Person (SIRCoP) may deal with files that are complex, problematic or sensitive and for which a degree of quality assurance and/or longer term contact with another SIRENE Bureaux may be required to resolve the issue. The SIRCoP is not responsible for urgent cases; in principle the 24/7 front desk services should deal with these.

SIRENE forms must be used primarily for the exchange of supplementary information, unless another procedure is laid down in the SIRENE Manual (for example, the exchange of supplementary information on return decisions and entry bans before an alert is created which are carried out through the ‘consult’ mailbox).

The rules and procedures for using and completing the SIRENE forms are laid down in the SIRENE Manual, including its Annex 

The SIRENE Manual is a set of instructions which describes in detail the rules and procedures governing the bilateral or multilateral exchange of supplementary information.

Commission Implementing Decision of 18 November 2021 laying down detailed rules for the tasks of the SIRENE Bureaux and the exchange of supplementary information regarding alerts in the Schengen Information System in the field of border checks and return (C(2021) 7900).

Commission Implementing Decision of 18 November 2021 laying down detailed rules for the tasks of the SIRENE Bureaux and the exchange of supplementary information regarding alerts in the Schengen Information System in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters ( C(2021) 7901).

Sub-forms are used for several specific purposes. Each sub-form reflects a particular use of the form.

The Schengen Information System (SIS) is the most widely used and largest information sharing system for security and border management in Europe. As there are no internal borders between Schengen countries in Europe, SIS compensates for border controls and is the most successful cooperation tool for border, immigration, police, customs and judicial authorities in the EU and the Schengen associated countries. Since 1995, the system has helped Europe preserve its security in the absence of internal border checks. In 2013, the second generation of SIS (SIS II) was rolled out, with additional functionalities, such as the possibility of adding fingerprints and photographs to alerts. In March 2023, SIS was renewed with new alerts, upgraded data and enhanced functionalities.