10.10.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 268/13 DECISIONS COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 30 September 2013 determining the third and last set of regions for the start of operations of the Visa Information System (VIS) (notified under document C(2013) 5914) (Only the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish texts are authentic) (2013/493/EU) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 concerning the Visa Information System (VIS) and the exchange of data between Member States on short-stay visas (VIS Regulation) (1), and in particular Article 48(4) thereof, Whereas: 1 Article 48 of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 provides for a progressive implementation of the VIS operations. The Commission in its Decision 2010/49/EC () and its Implementing Decision 2012/274/EU (*) determined respectively the first and second set of regions for the start of operations of the VIS. It is now necessary to determine the third and last set of regions where the data to be processed in the VIS, including photographs and fingerprint data, shall be collected and transmitted to the VIS for all visa applications in the region concerned. Article 48(4) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 provides for the determination of the sequence of the regions for the VIS deployment based on the following criteria: the risk of irregular immigration, threats to the internal security of the Member States and the feasibility of collecting biometrics from all locations in the region concerned. The Commission has made an assessment of the regions not covered by Decision 2010/49/EC and Implementing Decision 2012/274[EU in light of these three criteria taking into account, for the first criterion, elements such as the average visa refusal rates, the entry refusal rates and the rates of third country nationals detected as 218, 13.8.2008, p. 60. 0J L 0] L 23, 27.1.2010, p. 62. 0J L 134, 24.5.2012, p. 20. ) ) O] O] irregularly present in the territory of the Member States; for the second criterion, a threat assessment performed by Europol; and for the third criterion, the fact that some of the regions to be covered comprised third countries with vast territories or corresponding to very high numbers of visa applicants. The starting date of the operations in each of the regions defined by the present Decision is to be determined by the Commission pursuant to Article 48(3) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008. Given that the VIS Regulation builds upon the Schengen acquis, Denmark notified the implementation of the VIS Regulation in its national law in accordance with Article 5 of the Protocol on the position of Denmark- annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community. Denmarkis therefore bound under international law to implement this Decision. This Decision constitutes a development of provisions of the Schengen acquis in which the United Kingdomdoes not take part, in accordance with Council Decision 2000/365/EC of 29 May 2000 concerning the request of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to take part in some of the provisions of the Schengen acquis (*). The United Kingdom is therefore not bound by it or subject to its application. This Decision constitutes a development of provisions of the Schengen acquis in which Ireland does not take part, in accordance with Council Decision 2002/192[EC of 28 February 2002 concerning Ireland’s request to take part in some of the provisions of the Schengen acquis (°). Ireland is therefore not bound by it or subject to its application. L 131, 1.6.2000, p. 43. L 64, 7.3.2002, p. 20.