
Article 1 
The entry and storage of photographs and dactyloscopic data in SIS as referred to in Article 32 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861 shall comply with minimum data quality standards and technical specifications set out in the Annex to this Decision.
Article 2 
This Decision is addressed to:

((1)) the Kingdom of Belgium, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, the Republic of Estonia, the Hellenic Republic, the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, the Italian Republic, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Republic of Austria, the Republic of Poland, the Portuguese Republic, Romania, the Republic of Slovenia, the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Finland, the Kingdom of Sweden;
((2)) the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency.
Done at Brussels, 9 December 2020.
For the Commission
Ylva JOHANSSON
Member of the Commission
ANNEX
1.  1.1. 
The following categories of dactyloscopic data may be used in SIS:


((a)) flat fingerprints, including flat thumb slaps and flat four-finger slaps;
((b)) rolled fingerprints;
((c)) palm prints.
 1.2. 
Member States may transmit to Central SIS:


((a)) data captured using live-scan devices at the national level that are capable of capturing and segmenting up to ten individual fingerprints; rolled, flat or both;
((b)) ‘inked’ fingerprints and palm prints; rolled, flat or both, which are digitally scanned at the relevant quality and resolution.

The Automated Fingerprint Identification System of Central SIS (CS-SIS AFIS), as defined in Article 33(2) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861, must be compatible and interoperable with the dactyloscopic data formats mentioned under points (a) and (b).
 1.3.  1.3.1. 
The input format for the transmission of dactyloscopic data (‘dactyloscopic container’) to SIS must be compliant with the SIS NISTstandard based on the ANSI/NIST binary format.

A ‘SIS NIST checker’ will be established at the level of the technical support function of Central SIS (CS-SIS) to check compliance of the transmitted dactyloscopic container with the defined SIS NIST standard.

Dactyloscopic containers that do not comply with the defined SIS NIST standard will be rejected by CS-SIS AFIS and will not be stored in Central SIS. If a non-compliant file is rejected by CS-SIS AFIS, CS-SIS will send an error message to the Member State that has transmitted the data.
 1.3.2. 
Fingerprint and palm print images referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Section 1.1 must be of a nominal resolution of either 1 000 ppi or of 500 ppi with 256 grey levels in order to be processed by CS-SIS. 500 ppi images must be entered using the WSQ format while 1 000 ppi images must be in JPEG2000 (JP2) format.
 1.3.3. 
Dactyloscopic images must comply with the quality thresholds laid down in the SIS Interface Control Document and Detailed Technical Specifications in order to be stored and used in CS-SIS AFIS.

Member States are recommended to check the compliance with the quality thresholds of the dactyloscopic images before transmitting them to CS-SIS.

Compliant dactyloscopic containers that contain dactyloscopic images on fingerprints or palm prints below the quality thresholds will not be stored in CS-SIS AFIS and will not be used for biometric searches. Dactyloscopic containers that contain dactyloscopic images rejected by CS-SIS AFIS may only be used to confirm the identity of a person in accordance with Article 33(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1861. CS-SIS will send an error message to the Member State that has transmitted the data when a file has been rejected by CS-SIS AFIS due to the low quality of the images.
 1.4. 
CS-SIS AFIS will provide a biometric search functionality for all types of dactyloscopic images satisfying the quality requirements established in Section 1.3.3.

The performance requirements and biometric accuracy for the different categories of biometric searches in CS-SIS AFIS are laid down in the SIS Interface Control Document and Detailed Technical Specifications.

2. 
A minimum resolution of 480 × 600 pixels with 24 bits of colour depth must be used when entering photographs in SIS.
