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Council of the European Union

Brussels, 19 October 2026 (OR. en)

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SCH-EVAL 48 COMIX 254 IXIM 230 ENFOPOL 385 FRONT 205

LI IS PARLNAT CH NO EP

Interinstitutional File: 2026/0298 (NLE)

OUTCOME OF PROCEEDINGS

From: General Secretariat of the Council

To: Delegations

Subject: COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION setting out recommendations for remedial actions aimed at addressing the serious deficiencies related to information exchange and border management identified in the 2026 Schengen evaluation of Belgium, in accordance with Council Regulation (EU) 2022/922

Delegations will find in annex the Council Implementing Decision setting out recommendations for

remedial actions aimed at addressing the serious deficiencies related to information exchange and

border management identified in the 2026 Schengen evaluation of Belgium in accordance with

Council Regulation (EU) 2022/922, adopted as an “A item” by the Council (Employment, Social

Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs) on Monday 19 October 2026.

In line with Article 22(4) of Council Regulation (EU) No 2022/922 of 9 June 2022, this

Recommendation will be forwarded to the European Parliament and national parliaments.

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ANNEX

COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION

setting out recommendations for remedial actions aimed at addressing the serious deficiencies

related to information exchange and border management identified in the 2026 Schengen

evaluation of Belgium, in accordance with Council Regulation (EU) 2022/922

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EU) 2022/922 of 9 June 2022 on the establishment and

operation of an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen

acquis, and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1053/20131, and in particular Article 22(4) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

Whereas:

(1) In accordance with Article 4(1), point (b), of Regulation (EU) 2022/922, as well as the

multiannual evaluation programme 2023-20292 and the 2026 annual evaluation programme3,

a periodic Schengen evaluation of Belgium was conducted by an evaluation team composed

of Commission representatives and Member State experts, supported by observers from

Frontex, Europol, eu-LISA, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and the

European Data Protection Supervisor. That evaluation verified Belgium’s implementation of

the Schengen acquis in the fields of border management, return, visa, police cooperation,

large-scale IT systems (the Schengen Information System) and related data protection and

fundamental rights standards.

1 OJ L 160,15.6.2022, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/922/oj. 2 C(2023) 57. 3 C(2025) 4810.

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(2) During that evaluation, two serious deficiencies were identified in the application of certain

provisions of the Schengen acquis concerning information exchange and the quality of

border checks which risk to have a significant negative impact on the functioning of the area

without internal border control. The Council was informed thereof on 3 July 2026.

(3) The draft report was shared with the Belgian authorities on 10 July 2026 and their comments

were received on 22 July 2026. A drafting meeting took place on 28 July 2026. On 25

September 2026, by its Implementing Decision C(2026) 7070, the Commission adopted the

report identifying those serious deficiencies.

(4) Recommendations for remedial actions should be set out and Belgium should immediately

take remedial actions to address the identified serious deficiencies. Considering the nature of

the findings, their persistency, and the need to swiftly address them, all recommendations

are given the same level of priority.

(5) Pursuant to Article 22(6) of Regulation (EU) 2022/922, within one month of the adoption of

this Decision, Belgium is to establish an action plan to implement all recommendations and

to remedy the serious deficiencies identified in the evaluation report and to provide that

action plan to the Commission and to the Council. Belgium should report to the Commission

and the Council on the implementation of its action plan every three months from the date of

notice of receipt of the review of the adequacy of the action plan by the Commission and

until the Commission considers that all recommendations are fully implemented.

(6) In accordance with Article 22(7) of Regulation (EU) 2022/922, a revisit by the team to

verify the progress made in implementing the recommendations is to take place no later than

one year from the date of the evaluation activity,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

The Kingdom of Belgium shall implement the following recommendations in order to remedy the

serious deficiencies as well as other non-compliances and areas of improvement which are linked to

them, as identified in the 2026 evaluation report:

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1. urgently develop and deploy a single electronic case management system (‘CMS’)

for the Belgian Single Point of Contact (‘SPOC’), fulfilling the requirements of

Article 16 of Directive (EU) 2023/977 of the European Parliament and of the

Council4, in particular recording incoming and outgoing requests and provisions of

information, cross-checking incoming requests, ensuring adequate and rapid follow-

up to respect the time limits set out in Article 5 of that Directive, ensure

interoperability with the Secure Information Exchange Network Application

(SIENA), the production of statistics, and appropriate safeguards and procedures to

guarantee that personal data are retained only for as long as necessary and

proportionate and are deleted once no longer required. Pending the deployment of the

CMS, Belgium should adjust the human resources strategy and ensure that sufficient

human and financial resources are allocated to manage the current workload and

support the phased implementation of the new CMS functionalities.

2. ensure a timely and adequate management of Schengen Information System (SIS)

alerts on return and on refusal of entry and stay.

3. ensure the timely exchange and handling of supplementary information within the

Immigration Office.

4. implement all types of dactyloscopic searches in the Automated Fingerprint

Identification System, including latent searches, and ensure the roll-out to all relevant

authorities.

5. implement all search functionalities in all police query applications, ensuring

automatic search of the SIS and Interpol databases, and establish clear rules

concerning alert creation in case of multiple names.

4 Directive (EU) 2023/977 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023 on

the exchange of information between the law enforcement authorities of Member States and

repealing Council Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA (OJ L 134, 22.5.2023, p. 1,

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2023/977/oj).

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6. implement the necessary technical changes in the applications in use by the Police, in

order to ensure the display of all data of the SIS alerts;

7 urgently improve the quality of border checks to bring it in compliance with Article 8

of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council5,

suspend the relaxation of border checks on entry and notify the Commission when

relaxations are implemented in accordance with Article 8(2) and (3) and Article 9(1),

(2) and (4) of that Regulation.

8 urgently ensure a correct use of the Entry/Exit System automated calculator and

implement it in the BorderTask application, in accordance with Article 6(1), points

(a), (b), (c) and (g), Article 11(2) and (3) and Article 22 of Regulation (EU)

2017/2226 of the European Parliament and of the Council6.

9 implement the necessary technical changes in the BorderTask application to ensure

that all mandatory data are clearly displayed and available to end-users and

implement procedures and training not to jeopardise the discreet nature of checks.

10 establish a specific human resource strategy related to border management tasks,

both at strategic level and per border crossing point, that is applicable to all

categories of staff.

11 increase the number of staff to perform border checks at the air borders, including

staff for document examination, and make full use of Frontex deployment at the most

affected border crossing points as intermediate solution.

5 Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016

on a Union Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen

Borders Code) (OJ L 77, 23.3.2016, p. 1, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/399/oj). 6 Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November

2017 establishing an Entry/Exit System (EES) to register entry and exit data and refusal of

entry data of third-country nationals crossing the external borders of the Member States and

determining the conditions for access to the EES for law enforcement purposes, and

amending the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement and Regulations (EC) No

767/2008 and (EU) No 1077/2011 (OJ L 327, 9.12.2017, p. 20,

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2017/2226/oj).

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12 urgently establish a mandatory refresher or continuous training system to support the

specialised and properly trained officers working at the border crossing points, and

ensure that the police officers participate in these training programs, including on the

use of the Entry/Exit System; ensure that border guards in the first line have

sufficient skills to perform document examinations.

13 ensure that the Advance Passenger Information (API) data is checked against all

relevant databases, including Interpol databases and systematically used for border

checks procedures and risk analysis; and ensure an effective and digital provision of

information on alerts and supplementary information following API checks from the

Passenger Information Unit to the airport police.

14 ensure that all the necessary measures, including the imposition of fines, are taken to

oblige the air carriers to transmit API for the purpose of carrying out checks on

persons at the external borders, as required by Articles 3 and 4 of Council Directive

2004/82/EC7.

15 ensure the compliance of the risk analysis with Article 29(1) and (7) of Regulation

(EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council8 by:

(a) systematically producing and continuously updating risk profiles and

indicators for border control, as well as thematic products, ensuring that

knowledge of risk profiles and other risk analysis products is

disseminated to all relevant stakeholders, in particular to first- and

second-line control officers;

7 Council Directive 2004/82/EC of 29 April 2004 on the obligation of carriers to

communicate passenger data (OJ L 261, 6.8.2004, p. 24,

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2004/82/oj). 8 Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November

2019 on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No

1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624 (OJ L 295, 14.11.2019, p. 1,

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2019/1896/oj).

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(b) establishing a comprehensive risk analysis system by issuing an

appropriate formal methodology defining the catalogue of risk analysis

products, the frequency of their preparation, deadlines, responsibilities,

target recipients, as well as a two-way information flow mechanism

between the central and local levels;

(c) establishing risk analysis capacity in each airport by designating and

training staff and implementing an internal risk analysis training system

that is systematic and periodic (for example delivered at least one day

every six months, with an extended introductory training provided at the

initial stage).

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to the Kingdom of Belgium.

Done at Brussels,

For the Council

The President