Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

The current proposal for a second recast of Eurodac is part of the first package of proposals reforming the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), put forward by the Commission in May 2016, in response to the migration and refugees crisis of 2015. The proposal supports the practical implementation of the reformed Dublin system and adapts and reinforces the Eurodac system in order to meet the current immigration challenges.

The ongoing migration and refugee crisis has revealed serious gaps in the existing CEAS, with national authorities in the Member States often experiencing difficulties in identifying illegally staying third-country nationals, who use deceptive means to avoid their identification and to frustrate the procedures for re-documentation in view of their return and readmission. The rapporteur therefore welcomes the extension of the scope of Eurodac, which would allow the Member States to transmit and compare data on illegally staying third-country nationals or stateless persons who do not claim asylum and who may move within the Union undetected. In this way, the Eurodac system will no longer serve only for the purpose of assisting in determining which Member State is responsible under the Dublin Regulation but will also become a system providing for wider immigration purposes, including removal and repatriation measures.

The Commission proposal also emphasizes that comparisons of data with those stored in the Central System may be used for law enforcement purposes for the prevention, detection or investigation of terrorist offences or other serious criminal offences. In this regard, the rapporteur underlines the importance of law enforcement access to Eurodac, and proposes a set of amendments aimed at facilitating Europol´s performance of its tasks. Europol is currently unable to connect due to technical difficulties and strict conditions provided in the Regulation in force. The proposed amendments, aimed at granting simplified and direct access of Europol to Eurodac, are counterbalanced by amendments to reinforce data protection requirements also proposed by the Rapporteur.

The Commission proposal allows for comparisons of fingerprint and facial image data together and facial images separately under defined conditions. This rule also applies for law enforcement purposes. Therefore, under the Commission proposal, national law enforcement authorities and Europol would not be able to request comparison with specific alphanumeric data, which would be highly detrimental to investigations, especially in the counter-terrorism field, and in particular when trying to establish the places and dates of entry into the EU of suspects for which a used identity is known, but no fingerprint is available. In this context, the rapporteur proposes that law enforcement authorities and Europol should are allowed to make comparisons based on alphanumeric data, in particular where they may possess evidence of the criminal suspect or victim´s personal details or identity documents.

Another important element in the Commission proposal is to lower the age at which children’s fingerprints are taken to six years old. The rapporteur welcomes this proposal as it would facilitate tracking of unaccompanied minors in cases where they are separated from their families or abscond from care institutions. It would also be of critical help in keeping track of vulnerable children and protecting them from exploitation or smuggling. In order to ensure the welfare and the best interest of minors, the minors themselves need to understand the procedure. Therefore, to facilitate the procedure, the rapporteur introduces an obligation to provide information in an age-appropriate manner, both orally and in writing, using leaflets, infographics, demonstrations or a combination of all three, which are specifically designed to explain the procedure to minors. With a view to increase the system’s potential to trace and reunite missed family members, and should additional alphanumeric data of applicants for international protection be included in the future version of Eurodac, the rapporteur proposes to also record family links and a particular indication if a minor is unaccompanied.

Finally, the rapporteur proposes improvements relating to the security electronic transmission channel between the Member States and the Commission known as DubliNet and its operational management by eu-LISA. This provision is moved in a separate article and the tasks of eu-LISa relating to the operational management of DubliNet are clarified. A corresponding amendment of Regulation (EU) No 1077/2011 on eu-LISA is also proposed to reflect this amendment.