Editing Schengen Information System (section)

== Participating nations ==
Information in SIS is shared among the institutions of countries participating in the [[Schengen Agreement]] Application Convention (SAAC). The five original participating countries were France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Twenty-two additional countries joined the system since its creation: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Greece, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Liechtenstein, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. Among the current participants, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland are members of the [[European Free Trade Association]] but not of the [[European Union]].

Although Ireland and the United Kingdom operate a [[Common Travel Area]] and had not signed the Schengen Agreement Application Convention (when the United Kingdom was still an EU member), they had the right to take part in Schengen co-operation under the terms of the [[Treaty of Amsterdam]]. Ireland joined the law enforcement aspect on 1 January 2021 and has "full operational capacity" since March 2021.<ref name="RTE201218">{{cite news | title= Ireland to join EU police database from 1 January as UK leaves | url= https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1218/1185318-eu-security-system/ | author= Sean Whelan | work= RTE News | date= 18 December 2020 | access-date= 28 December 2020 | archive-date= 25 December 2020 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201225231700/https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/1218/1185318-eu-security-system/ | url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32020D1745 |title=COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2020/1745 of 18 November 2020 on the putting into effect of the provisions of the Schengen acquis on data protection and on the provisional putting into effect of certain provisions of the Schengen acquis in Ireland |publisher=EUR-Lex |access-date=30 December 2020 |archive-date=3 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003224156/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32020D1745 |url-status=live }}</ref>  As a consequence of [[Brexit]], the UK lost access to the system on 31 December 2020. (UK law enforcement did 571 million searches in the database in 2019 alone<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/22/uk-and-eu-brexit-talks-clash-over-crime-fighting-database|title=UK and EU clash over crime-fighting database in Brexit talks|date=22 May 2020|website=the Guardian|access-date=30 December 2020|archive-date=4 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104032914/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/22/uk-and-eu-brexit-talks-clash-over-crime-fighting-database|url-status=live}}</ref>) and does not expect to regain any access before 2027 at the earliest.<ref>{{cite news |title=UK police and Border Force to remain locked out of EU database of criminals |first=Rajeev |last=Syal |work=The Guardian |date=1 March 2023 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/01/uk-police-and-border-force-to-remain-locked-out-of-eu-database-of-criminals}}</ref>