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EURODAC: Ten EU governments want law enforcement agencies to have access to the EURODAC database (which holds the fingerprints of asylum-seekers)

01 November 2010

EURODAC: Ten EU governments want law enforcement agencies to have access to the EURODAC database (which holds the fingerprints of asylum-seekers). The Austria demand is backed by Germany, Spain, France, Lithuania, Slovenia, Portugal, Netherlands, Czech Republic and Hungary. See: CATS Outcomes/Minutes (pdf). The Commission put forward a proposed Regulation amending the one in 2000 on EURODAC on 3 December 2008. This was amended in September 2009 and then again in October 2010 (see text below). The latest proposal removes provision on access for law enforcement agencies: See: EURODAC (SEMDOC, link)

The Commission said that: "a proposal for access to Eurodac for the security services had been omitted in this proposal in order to facilitate negotiations with the European Parliament and to speed up the codecision process. A separate proposal for access by the law enforcement services would be presented in 2012."

European Commission proposal on EURODAC (fingerprint database of asylum-seekers) drops the idea of giving access to law enforcement agencies: Amended proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of 'EURODAC' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EC) No […/…] (Recast version) (pdf)

Earlier coverage: European Data Protection Supervisor: Law enforcement access to EURODAC: EDPS expresses serious doubts about the legitimacy and necessity of proposed measures (Press release, pdf) Full-text of Opinion (pdf): "The analysis leads to the conclusion that the necessity and proportionality of the proposals, which are both crucial elements to legitimate privacy intrusion, are not demonstrated. As a result, the EDPS has serious doubts whether the proposals are legitimate and whether legislative instruments should be adopted on this basis." (emphasis in original)

See also: Standing Committee of experts on international immigration, refugees and criminal law (Utrecht) submission to the Commission on: Proposal to give law enforcement authorities access to Eurodac (pdf) and Developing the European surveillance society: German proposal on police access to Eurodac data- the Statewatch analysis of EU plans to give police access to central EU fingerprint database of asylum applicants and "illegal" entrants.