Germany: Report on Schengen 1996
01 July 1997
The annual report on the workings of the Schengen Agreement for 1996 adopted by the Standing Conference of the Interior Ministers and Senators of the laender in Germany gives an insight into its workings. Overall, it says the "migration and crime situation" is not showing any "negative effects". This is a summary of the main points.
In 1996 there were 135 cross border observations: Belgium 8, France 6, Luxembourg 3, the Netherlands 118. There were 39 instances of cross border pursuit: Belgium 2, France 6, Luxembourg 0, the Netherlands 31.
As a result of checks at internal land borders 23,406 people were returned to Germany - 21,011 of these from the Netherlands. In comparison Germany only returned 2,421 people to other Schengen States - 1,053 to the Netherlands.
Concerning the readmission of third country nationals: In 1996, 59,010 "foreigners" had been deported from Germany either to neighbouring states or to their countries of origin. 2421 people were deported to France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands; 1698 to Austria and 251 to Denmark.
26,599 people were deported back to Germany in 1996; 23,406 from the other Schengen states (Netherlands 21,011; France 1895; Belgium 337; Luxembourg 163). The report says:
Foreigners living illegally in one of the Schengen states are deported to Germany on the basis of readmission agreements with Germany dating from the 1960s. These foreigners are not deported to their countries of origins in accordance with Article 23 para 4 SSA... The objective of German readmission policy is, however, to get the Schengen partners to agree to joint readmission operations to the countries of origin of the foreigners concerned.
The exclusion of migrants at Germany's external borders in 1996 was: 27,024, the number arrested after "illegal entry" was 25,551, the number refused entry at airports was 4,286 together with a further 7,364 "arrested for illegal immigration".
Schengen Information System
The report says that: "it has been decided to redesign the SIS completely in order to integrate the five Nordic states. The integration of the Nordic states will follow in a second technical generation of the SIS. This new SIS II will be designed in a way that the integration of future member states (eg within the framework of an enlarged EU) will be technically possible at any time."
The following table shows the number of searches of the Schengen Information System in 1996 by total searches by the Schengen States using the SIS (only seven) and the numbers for Germany:
Subject of search total German part
arrest/extradition 5,103 persons 1,528 persons
Article 95
entry refusal/
deportation, Art.96 413,054 321,301
residence inquiry
Art.97 17,486 1,378
(missing people/minors)
residence inquiry 31,324 1,042
witnesses Art. 98
police observation 9,424 356
Art.99
"searches for things"
Art. 100
- vehicles 827,516 317,273
- arms 168,421 106,955
- bank notes 535,754 235,062
- blank documents 33,034 31,825
- identity papers 2,200,968 1,215,842
German Interior Ministry, Report on the Schengen Agreement 1996, adopted by the Standing Conference of the Interior Ministers and Senators of the laender on 5/6 June 1997.