Regulation 2005/1160 - Amendment of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders, as regards access to the Schengen Information System by the services in the Member States responsible for issuing registration certificates for vehicles - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 191/18

Article 9 of Council Directive 1999/37/EC of 29 April 1999 on the registration documents for vehicles (3) provides that Member States are to assist one another in the implementation of that Directive and may exchange information at bilateral or multilateral level in particular so as to check, before any registration of a vehicle, the latter's legal status, where necessary in the Member State in which it was previously registered. Such checking may in particular involve the use of an electronic network.

The Schengen Information System (or the SIS), set up under Title IV of the Convention of 1990 implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders (4)(hereinafter ‘the 1990 Schengen Convention’) and integrated into the framework of the European Union pursuant to the Protocol annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, constitutes an electronic network between the Member States and contains, inter alia, data on motor vehicles with a cylinder capacity exceeding 50 cc which have been stolen, misappropriated or lost. Pursuant to Article 100 of the 1990 Schengen Convention, data on such motor vehicles sought for the purposes of seizure or use as evidence in criminal proceedings are entered in the SIS.

Council Decision 2004/919/EC of 22 December 2004 on tackling vehicle crime with cross-border implications (5) includes the use of the SIS as an integral part of the law enforcement strategy against vehicle crime.

Pursuant to Article 101(1) of the 1990 Schengen Convention, access to data entered in the SIS and the right to search such data directly is reserved exclusively to the authorities responsible for border checks and other police and customs checks carried out within the country, and the coordination of such checks.

Article 102(4) of the 1990 Schengen Convention provides that data may not, in principle, be used for administrative purposes.

Services responsible in the Member States for issuing registration certificates for vehicles and clearly identified for this purpose should have access to data entered in the SIS concerning motor vehicles with a cylinder capacity exceeding 50cc, trailers and caravans with an unladen weight exceeding 750 kg and vehicle registration certificates and vehicle number plates which have been stolen, misappropriated, lost or invalidated, in order to enable them to check whether the vehicles presented to them for registration have been stolen, misappropriated or lost. To that end it is necessary to adopt rules granting those services access to those data, and to allow them to use those data for the administrative purpose of properly issuing registration certificates for vehicles.

Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that, in case of a hit, the measures...