Deletion of alerts from SIS

Our office was contacted many times by foreign nationals who could not enter an EU member state because the authorities of another EU member state previously had placed an alert in the so-called Schengen Information System (SIS) due to some minor violation or irregularity (e.g. overstaying or carelessly providing wrong information to the authorities). Few people know that such alerts must also be reviewed from time to time, and even the deletion of the alert can be requested with the appropriate, carefully prepared legal process.

The first and most important thing is that everyone subject to an alert for expulsion or an alert for refusal of entry and stay has the right to be informed about the alert. In addition, through a legal procedure, under certain conditions, it is possible to request the correction or deletion of any incorrect or outdated data in SIS. Alerts on third-country nationals who are the subject of a restrictive measure intended to prevent entry into or transit through the territory of Member States shall be deleted when the restrictive measure has been terminated, suspended, or annulled.

The examination of the legality of alerts recorded in the SIS is assessed based on the national law of the Member State to which the request is made. However, if data was recorded in the SIS by the authorities of another Schengen state, the authorities of the two states act in close cooperation.

Alerts shall be kept only for the time required to achieve the purposes for which they were entered. An issuing Member State shall, within three years of the entry of an alert into SIS, review the need to retain it. However, if the national decision on which the alert is based provides for a longer period of validity than three years, the alert shall be reviewed within five years.

If the applicant considers that the answer received from the competent Hungarian authority is not adequate, the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information can also be contacted.