On 28 and 29 November 2023, the 14^th CISE Stakeholders Group (CSG) meeting was held in Lisbon and via teleconferencing. 59 representatives from 16 MS and 8 EU bodies gathered to summarize the main achievements and challenges of the CISE Transitional Phase, and to discuss the activities of the forthcoming Operational Phase.

The meeting marked a major milestone for the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) as the CSG agreed that the main building blocks necessary for the operational use of CISE have been delivered, and, thus, the operational exchange of information can start as of 2024. As emphasized during the meeting, this was achieved owing to the joint effort of all the involved stakeholders. In addition, the stakeholders could count on technical support from EMSA and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, and on financial support through the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF).

Among the main highlights of the Transitional Phase, it was pointed out that the implementation of CISE in the stakeholders’ maritime surveillance systems has advanced significantly. There are already 14 operational nodes connected to the CISE network, and additional ones are in the process to connect to CISE. Moreover, to prepare the grounds for operational exchange, the stakeholders have been participating in the CISE Trials, and are working towards implementing different use cases in specific sea basins around Europe which can be addressed through CISE. Further, in the Transitional Phase the stakeholders established the Cooperation Agreement regulating the use of the information shared in the network and agreed on the methodology to measure the activity in the network with the aim to enhance the Responsibility to Share (RTS) principle.

During the meeting, DG MARE informed that the current set-up will be continued in the Operational Phase. The CSG will act as the coordinating body with the main objective to start making the best use of CISE to enhance the authorities’ maritime domain awareness picture. Likewise, EMSA will continue to facilitate the activities of the CSG and to provide support to the stakeholders in implementing the CISE infrastructure, as it has been agreed by the EMSA Administrative Board in June 2023. The governance and the activities of the Operational Phase were agreed by the Member State Expert Sub-Group on Integration of Maritime Security and Surveillance (MSESG) during the meeting on 24 October 2024.

The stakeholders also discussed how to effectively implement the different tasks in the Operational Phase and outlined possible improvements and recommendations.  Moreover, considering the interest in exchanging classified information, it was announced that one of the first priorities of the Operational Phase will be to set up a framework for the CISE Classified network, based on the Security Accreditation Strategy agreed in the Transitional Phase.

The first CSG meeting in the Operational Phase is planned to be held in the second quarter of 2024.