Article 4 Procedure for access to the VIS

Where the conditions of Article 5 are fulfilled the operating units referred to in Article 3(5) shall submit a reasoned written or electronic request to the central access points referred to in Article 3(3) to access the VIS. Upon receipt of a request for access the central access point(s) shall verify whether the conditions for access referred to in Article 5 are fulfilled. If all conditions for access are fulfilled, the duly authorised staff of the central access point(s) shall process the requests. The VIS data accessed shall be transmitted to the operating units referred to in Article 3(5) in such a way as not to compromise the security of the data.

In an exceptional case of urgency, the central access point(s) may receive written, electronic or oral requests. In such cases, the central access point(s) shall process the request immediately and only verify ex-post whether all the conditions of Article 5 are fulfilled, including whether an exceptional case of urgency existed. The ex-post verification shall take place without undue delay after the processing of the request.