Joint Supervisory Authorities
Joint Supervisory Authorities / Bodies(JSAs/JSBs) were a model for organising the data protection supervision of several large-scale IT databases operated on the European level and for certain agencies in the law-enforcement field. They were essentially made up of representatives of the national data protection authorities.
JSAs/JSBs existed for example for Europol and the Schengen Information System under the Schengen Convention. However, most of these JSAs/JSBs have been abolished. The remaining ones are the Customs JSA, dealing with parts of the Customs Information System (CIS) and the Eurojust JSB until the new Eurojust Regulation (EU) 2018/1727 will become applicable.
The usual model now is to have the EDPS supervise the central unit of such large-scale IT systems, while the use made of them by Member States' authorities is supervised by the national data protection authorities. The two levels usually cooperate in Supervision Coordination Groups (SCGs). The secretariats for these groups are usually provided by the EDPS.
Customs Joint Supervisory Authority
The Joint Supervisory Authority, established by the Council Decision on the use of information technology for customs purposes, is responsible for supervising part of the Customs Information System established under that Decision. The Authority inspects the central CIS database, offers advice and can examine issues relating to access requests by data subjects.