The Common Information Sharing Environment - CISE - is a network that connects systems of European and EU/EEA Member States authorities with responsibility in maritime surveillance. CISE enables them to exchange relevant information across borders and different sectors in a seamless and automated way, leading to an enhanced maritime awareness picture and, thus, allowing for more effective operations at sea.

Why is CISE needed in the EU maritime domain?

Maritime authorities across the EU carry out many different operational surveillance tasks and for this purpose they all gather maritime data and information through their sectoral platforms and IT systems. CISE is an infrastructure facilitating information sharing among all these authorities’ systems, adding value to their maritime surveillance efforts. This is possible due to a unique CISE architecture which was designed based on the needs of maritime authorities from all different sectors:

What are the main principles of CISE?

• CISE is a voluntary collaborative process in the EU seeking to further enhance and promote relevant information exchange based on a spirit of cooperation and is not enforced by legislation;
• CISE brings added value and complementarity to the existing and future maritime data systems, services and sharing processes. It fosters the re-use and enhancement of the authorities´ currently used systems, while avoiding duplication.
• CISE fosters cooperation and synergies among all EU/EEA public authorities responsible for maritime surveillance including civil and military, regional/sectoral organisations, and EU agencies.
• CISE has a decentralized infrastructure that allows every authority to maintain full control of the building blocks used for sharing information. It does not have a central storage of information;
• CISE architecture is built on a standard data model and enables the sharing of both unclassified and classified information.
• CISE allows full control of the information sharing policy: the access rights of the information shared are controlled by the authority that owns the data.

Background information

Enhancing information exchange between maritime surveillance authorities is one of the key strategic objectives of the European Union. The development of the maritime CISE was first proposed in 2009 and has been refined since then through various interoperability and security research projects and supported by subsequent Commission Communications and Council Conclusions.

Since 2014, CISE is one of the key actions supporting the implementation of the EU Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS) and its Action Plan, revised and adopted by the Council in October 2023. The updated EUMSS as well as the EU Strategic Compass for Security and Defence adopted in March 2022 points to the role of CISE in enhancing the EU maritime security awareness and in facilitating real-time information sharing between different maritime surveillance authorities.

As from April 2019, EMSA in close coordination with the Member States and relevant EU bodies is engaged in the implementation of CISE. In 2024, based on the results achieved in the CISE Transitional Phase (2019-2023), the European Commission set up the Operational Phase with the aim of fully implementing CISE in the operational activities of maritime surveillance authorities.