2.3.2004 Official Journal of the European Union L 64/45 (Acts adopted pursuant to Title VI of the Treaty on European Union) COUNCIL DECISION 2004/201/JHA of 19 February 2004 on procedures for amending the Sirene Manual THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in par- ticular Article 30(1)(a) and (b), Article 31(a) and (b) and Article 34(2)(c) thereof, Having regard to the initiative of the Hellenic Republic (), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (), Whereas: (1) The Schengen Information System (hereinafter referred to as the ‘SIS’) set up pursuant to the provisions of Title IV of the Convention of 1990 implementing the Schengen Agreement of 14 June 1985 on the gradual abolition of checks at common borders (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Schengen Convention’) (°) constitutes an essential tool for the application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis as integrated into the framework of the European Union. (2)  Pursuant to the provisions of Article 92 of the Schengen Convention, the national sections of the Member States cannot exchange SIS data directly between themselves; they may only exchange data via the technical support function in Strasbourg. However, it is appropriate for certain supplementary information required for imple- menting certain provisions of the Schengen Convention correctly to be exchanged bilaterally or multilaterally. Such supplementary information is needed in particular in relation to the action required pursuant to Articles 25, 39, 46, 95 to 100, 102(3), 104(3), 106, 107, 109 and 110 of the Schengen Convention. The exchange of this supplementary information is carried out by the Sirene offices of each Member State. (3)  The Sirene Manual is a set of instructions to operators in the Sirene offices of each of the Member States which describes in detail the rules and procedures governing the bilateral or multilateral exchange of such supplemen- tary information. () O] C 82, 5.4.2003, p. 25. (¥) Opinion delivered on 23 September 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ L 239, 22.9.2000, p. 19. (4) Uniformity of the Sirene Manual should be ensured. The Schengen technical acquis should be applicable here. Amendments to Part 1 of the Sirene Manual pursuant to this Decision should be confined to reflecting the applic- able version of the provisions of the Schengen Conven- tion. It is necessary to establish a procedure for amending the Sirene Manual in accordance with the relevant provi- sions of the various Treaties. The legislative basis required for allowing future amend- ments to the Sirene Manual consists of two separate instruments: this Decision based on Articles 30(1)(a) and (b), 31(a) and (b) and 34(2)(c) of the Treaty on European Union and Council Regulation (EC) No 378/2004 of 19 February 2004 on procedures for amending the Sirene Manual (*) based on Article 66 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. The reason for this is that, as set out in Article 92 of the Schengen Convention, the SIS is to enable the authorities designated by the Member States, by means of an automated search proce- dure, to have access to alerts on persons and property for the purposes of border checks and other police and customs checks carried out within the country in accord- ance with national law, as well as for the purposes of issuing visas, residence permits and the administration of legislation on aliens in the context of the application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the movement of persons. The exchange of the supplemen- tary information required for implementing the provi- sions of the Schengen Convention referred to in recital 2, carried out by the Sirene offices of each Member State, also serves these purposes, as well as assisting with police cooperation generally. The fact that the legislative basis required consists of two separate instruments does not affect the principle that the SIS constitutes, and should continue to constitute, one single, integrated, information system and that the Sirene offices should continue to carry out their tasks in an integrated manner. () See page 5 of this Official Journal.