The European Union has approved plans to create a new agency to manage some of its largest IT systems, specifically those related to "freedom, security and justice".

These systems include EURODAC, the EU-wide asylum applicant database, the Schengen Information System (SIS) for sharing data on wanted individuals and the Visa Information System (VIS).

The agency will be headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia, home to NATO’s centre of excellence on cyber defense. However, SIS and VIS will continued to be delivered from Strasbourg and co-located in Pongau, Austria.

A legislative document published earlier this year emphasised the agency’s responsibility to protect the security of data contained within these systems.
 
"The communication infrastructure shall be adequately managed and controlled in order to protect it from threats and to ensure the security of the communication infrastructure and of the IT systems," the document says. "It shall be ensured that no system-related operational information shall circulate in the communication infrastructure without encryption.|

The EU proposed that "in order to guarantee its full autonomy and independence, the agency should be granted an autonomous budget with revenue from the general budget of the [EU]".

Member states will have voting rights on the management board of the agency, and have been invited to appoint a member to the advisory board.

An executive director will be appointed "on the basis of his or her personal merits, experience in the field of large scale IT systems and administrative, financial and management skills as well as knowledge in data protection".