16.11.2006 Official Journal of the European Union L317/1 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 22 September 2006 on amending the Sirene Manual (notified under document number C(2006) 4094) (Only the Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, and Swedish texts are authentic) (2006757 [EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 378/2004 of 19 February 2004 on procedures for amending the Sirene Manual (), and in particular Article 2 thereof, Whereas: (1) The Sirene Manual () is a set of instructions to operators in the Sirene offices of each Member State which describes in detail the rules and procedures governing the bilateral or multilateral exchange of supplementary information required for the implementation of certain provisions of the Convention of 1990 implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders (°) (hereafter referred to as the Schengen Convention). (2)  Council Regulation (EC) No 871/2004 of 29 April 2004 concerning the introduction of some new functions for the Schengen Information System, including in the fight against terrorism () introduced certain new functions with respect to the current version of the Schengen Information System (SIS), in particular as regards the provision of access to certain types of data entered into the SIS and the recording and transmissions of personal 1 OJ L 64, 2.3.2004, p. 5. ) OJ C 38,17.2.2003, p. 1. OJ L 239, 22.9.2000, p. 19. % O] L 162, 30.4.2004, p. 29. Regulation as amended by Council Decision 2005/728[JHA (O] L 273, 19.10.2005, p. 26). () ) 0) () data. The working procedures within and between the Sirene offices should be adapted accordingly. (3)  The technical development of Sirpit (Sirene Picture Transfer) requires specific working procedures within and between the concerned Sirene offices to enable them to exchange pictures and fingerprints electronically in order to identify persons quickly and accurately. These procedures should be included in the revised version of the Sirene Manual. (4)  Standards of working procedures, technical infrastruc- ture, security and staff requirements of the Sirene offices have developed over time. The Sirene Manual has not been amended since 1999. As a result significant amend- ments are now required in order to guarantee uniformity of working procedures, technical infrastructure and staff requirements. Given the extent of the necessary amend- ments to the provisions of the Sirene Manual it is appro- priate to replace the current text of the Sirene Manual by a revised and up to date version. (5)  Council Decision 2003/19/EC of 14 October 2002 on declassifying certain parts of the Sirene Manual adopted by the Executive Committee established by the Conven- tion implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 (°) states that the declassified parts of the Sirene Manual are to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. () OJ L 8, 14.1.2003, p. 34.