The Republic of Slovenia as the country presiding the Council of the EU and pursuant to the Schengen acquis is holding an informal meeting of heads of SIRENE bureaus that are the cornerstone of the international police cooperation in the Schengen Area. The meeting will be attended by heads and representatives of SIRENE bureaus from EU member states and their permanent partners at the General Secretariat of the EU Council, the European Commission, the European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice (eu-LISA), Europol, Frontex and CEPOL. The working meeting that will be organised as a physical meeting for the first time during the previous three presidencies, will take place on 26 and 27 October in Ljubljana.

The introductory speeches will be given by Vojko Urbas, Director of the Criminal Police Directorate at the General Police Directorate, and Janez Žabkar, Head of the SIRENE Department at the Criminal Police Directorate.

The participants of the meeting will assess the quality of cooperation between SIRENE bureaus and discuss the necessary technical and organisational novelties concerning the implementation of measures and information exchange in the case of a match discovered in the Schengen Information System. The meeting will be an excellent opportunity for the exchange of views and the latest information on the topics and the upcoming novelties with a focus on the revision of the Schengen Information System in accordance with the integration and enforcement of new EU legal acts.

The press statement will be published after the event.

SIRENE

Slovenia already assumed the obligation to set up a new regime between EU member states upon its accession to the European Union. Slovenia, like other member states, established a national authority, namely the SIRENE bureau (Supplementary Information Request at National Entry for the exchange of supplementary information at a national level). The Slovenian national bureau is organised as a department within the International Police Cooperation Division at the Criminal Police Directorate at the General Police Directorate.

The bureau operates 24/7 and secures the exchange and availability of all supplementary information regarding the issued alerts and provides for the adoption of the required measures when the alerts regarding persons and objects are entered in SIS and found as matches during a search.

SIRENE bureaus are thus the cornerstone of international police cooperation in the Schengen Area, which is based on mutual exchange of information and alerts regarding persons and objects that are constantly and regularly updated by the requesting states under the principle of mutual trust in the same way as if the information was processed within a national legal framework.