§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 15 May 2000,Official Report, columns 52–53 W, on the Schengen Information System, when he made an application for participation in that system; what reply he has received; and if (a) Iceland and (b) Norway participate in the manner for which he has made application and without any additional condition. [124378]
§ Mrs. RocheThe United Kingdom's application to participate in parts of the Schengen acquis, including the Schengen Information System (SIS), which was made on 20 May 1999, was agreed by the Justice arid Home Affairs Council on 29 May 2000. The SIS will be a valuable weapon in the fight against organised and international crime as part of Schengen co-operation agreements.
Iceland and Norway's applications to become associated members of Schengen were agreed in December 1996 within Schengen structures and subsequently in accordance with Article 6(1) of the Schengen Protocol in Council Decision 1999/437/EC. They are not expected to have implemented the Schengen acquis fully until next year. When they have done so, they will participate in the SIS in broadly the same way as the United Kingdom will do when it has implemented the acquis. The principal difference will be that the United Kingdom has not sought access to, and exchange of, immigration data contained in the SIS as it will not participate in those parts of the acquis which concern external frontier controls.