Entry/Exit System (EES) - Rodrigue Kayembe

Summary

EES is the European wide automated border management system used for registering Schengen external border crossings for non-EU nationals crossing for short stays. A short stay has been defined as being 90 days within any 180-day period. Whilst a non-EU national is specifically well-defined as a traveller not holding an EU nationality or a nationality from either or Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway. Traveller will be registered on entry and exit via airport, port or land crossing. Countries with an exception include Ireland, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein.

European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS)

• The EDPS is the EU’s independent data protection authority. As data protection is defined as a fundamental right (Art. 8 Charter; Art. 16 TFEU). 
• The EDPS mission is to monitor and ensure the protection of personal data and privacy when EU Institutions and bodies process any personal of information of an individual. In the instance of EES, it seeks to safeguard the fundamental right to data protection non-EU nationals whose personal data and biometrics the EES collects.
• Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 outlines the rules for data protection in the EU institutions.  Article 57 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and Article 58 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 define the duties and authorities of the EDPS
  
• It has the powers of investigation, corrective powers and sanctions, and authorisation and advisory powers.
• As an institution it has limited enforcement powers by design. It has the powers to bind EU bodies but not the EU legislature. This is evidenced by Eurpol case where it ordered Europol to delete large datasets on individuals with no established link to crime. The Parliament and Council responded by amending the Europol Regulation to permit retroactive authorisation of that type of processing. This decision to amend was challenged, however the Court held that it lacked standing, as its special status "is not intended to limit the powers of the EU legislature" (Case T-578/22 EDPS v Parliament and Council, 6 September 2023, para 48).