The stakeholders in CISE are the EU/EEA Member States and EU bodies interested in making use of the CISE infrastructure to share maritime information.

The CISE Stakeholders Group (CSG) is entrusted with the execution of the of the activities needed to implement the Operational Phase of CISE. The members of the CSG are principal and alternate expert representatives designated by the EU/EEA Member States. Other members of the group are the European Commission, EDA, EFCA, EEAS, EMSA, Frontex and SatCen. The organisations and websites of the CSG members are listed in the file under “More info” below.

EMSA exercises the chairmanship and provides the secretariat of the CISE Stakeholders Group.

The below map presents the EU/EEA Member States and EU bodies represented in the CISE Stakeholders Group as well as the stakeholders that have established their nodes connected to the CISE operational network.

CISE working groups

The CISE Stakeholders Group may decide to constitute working groups during the Operational Phase. The working groups are established to discuss different aspects of CISE such as legal, technical, operational, etc. and to provide advice to the CSG members who take the final decision.

Currently, the below mentioned working groups have been created. Member States and Agencies have been asked to nominate their experts. The working groups have dedicated workspaces in the restricted collaborative platform. As a main rule, the working groups operate as correspondence groups.

Configuration Board Working Group

The Configuration Board Working Group (CB WG) discusses any changes in the common and core software, and is in charge of overseeing the implementation of security requirements for the unclassified network. The CB WG is also responsible for reviewing and providing input to the deliverables of the standardization process of the CISE Data and Service Model (the standardization of the CISE data model is currently executed within the context of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute Industry Standardisation Group (ETSI ISG CDM)).  The CSG members that do not have the node implemented can appoint an expert with the role of observer. Node Owners and Node Administrators are also considered part of this Working Group.

Responsibility to Share (RTS) Working Group

The Responsibility to Share Working Group (RTS WG) follows and provides advice on the Responsibility to Share methodology implementation, and is responsible for reviewing the results and suggesting improvements to the CSG members. The RTS methodology entails voluntary, periodic reviews to map the information exchanged and to provide an overview of the activity of the CISE Network.

Cooperation Agreement (CA) Working Group

The Cooperation Agreement Working Group (CA WG) follows and provides advice on the implementation of the Cooperation Agreement. The Cooperation Agreement defines the terms for the use of CISE and the rules to be followed for sharing information in the CISE Network.  

Operational Working Group

The Operational Working Group (OP WG) is established to foster the operational use of CISE, in particular to advise on how to make use of CISE for exchanging information among the stakeholders, to find synergies between the CISE Network participants and to share best practices. The OP WG provides updates to the Information Sharing Plan established by each stakeholder. This WG also follows and provides advice about the definition and use of the CISE operational services. In principle this Working Group is composed by persons responsible for the stakeholders’ Maritime Operations Centres.

CISE Classified Network Working Group

CISE Classified Network Working Group (CN WG) follows and provides advice on the implementation of the Classified Network. The CN WG will also play the role of the CISE Security Accreditation Board, when accreditation decisions will be needed, according the CISE Security Accreditation Strategy document. Decisions on the implementation of the Classified Network can be taken only by the CISE Stakeholders Group members representing authorities which are part of the Classified Network, or which have formally committed themselves to join the Classified Network in writing. Due to the nature of the tasks of the CN WG (e.g., handling classified information), the nominated experts to this WG should possess a personal security clearance (PSC).

Node Owners and Node Administrators

The CSG members with active nodes should appoint their Node Owners and Node Administrators, each of which with the following responsibilities:

Node Owners

Node Owners are accountable for a CISE node including the implementation of the Information Sharing Plan (ISP), the overseeing of incidents in the node, the definition of the access rights, the availability of the node.

Node Administrators

Node administrators are responsible for the administration and maintenance of the CISE nodes, including the management of the CISE node’s hardware and software and management of the network (VPN connections) with the other CISE nodes.