National coordination centers are at the core of EUROSUR, through which national authorities with a responsibility for border surveillance are required to cooperate and to coordinate their activities.

Frontex, the EU border agency, plays an important role in bringing together and analyzing 'in the European situational picture' information. Further, Frontex will support Member States in detecting small vessels by closely cooperating with other EU agencies.

The external land and sea borders have been divided into 'border sections' and a low, medium or high 'impact level', attributed to each of them. This approach allows to identify hotspots and to link standardized reactions at national and European level, enhancing a faster reaction to single incidents and critical situations.

Further, special emphasis has been given to ensure compliance with fundamental rights and obligations under international law. The EUROSUR Regulation clearly stipulates that Member States and Frontex need to fully comply with the principle of non-refoulement and human dignity. Also, exchange of personal data is very limited, since data-exchange is generally restricted to operational information.

More information on the launch of EUROSUR:

• online press release of the European Commission; the press release can also be found in the document attached below.