Activites

• 2000/12/15 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 2000/2725
  • OJ L 316 15.12.2000, p. 0001
• #2319
• 2000/12/11 Council Meeting
• 2000/12/11 End of procedure in Parliament
• 2000/12/11 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 2000/09/21 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0399/2000 summary

    Parliament made a number of amendments to the common position. MEPs did not approve proposals to transfer from the Commission to the Council the implementation of the Eurodac system for collecting and comparing asylum seekers' fingerprints. The Eurodac database is used to determine which EU country has been the point of entry for an asylum seeker and must thus process his or her asylum application. In a resolution drafted by Hubert PIRKER (EPP-ED/A), Parliament pointed out that, according to Article 202 of the EC Treaty, the Council in principle confers powers of implementation on the Commission. Only in 'specific cases' can the Council reserve the right to exercise implementing powers itself, and this is clearly not such a case. Moreover, Parliament would lose its right to information and be utterly dependent on the Council's goodwill. The proposed new wording of Articles 22 and 23 of the Eurodac Regulation - over which Parliament is now being consulted § was therefore rejected and replaced by an amendment conferring the implementing powers unreservedly on the Commission.�

• 2000/09/20 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2000/08/29 Committee report tabled for plenary, reconsultation
  • A5-0219/2000
• 2000/08/29 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• #X012
• 2000/06/30 Council Meeting
• 2000/05/25 Formal reconsultation of Parliament
• 2000/05/11 Amended legislative proposal for reconsultation published
  • 84717/2000 summary

    On 10 May 2000, the Permanent Representatives Committee recorded an Agreement on a new text of the draft Eurodac Regulation which will be forwarded to the European Parliament for reconsultation on the question of comitology. It should also be noted that the European Parliament shall express its opinion on the whole text which was forwarded to it (and not just on the single question of comitology).�

• 2000/03/15 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(2000)0100 summary

    The Commission's amended proposal concerning the establishment of "Eurodac" for the comparison of the fingerprints of applicants for asylum and certain other third-country nationals takes into consideration the amendments proposed by the European Parliament and accepted by the Commission and also amendments brought about by the Commission following discussions in the Council on this issue. The Parliament's amendments which were accepted by the Commission include: - the use of the term "third country national" instead of "alien" (the addition of a definition of the term "third country national" to make it clear that the scope of the instrument includes stateless persons); - an exclusive link with the Dublin Convention, a reference to the Dublin Convention should be inserted in the title; - the erasure of data from the central databases : the Parliament considered that the data of applicants for asylum and of persons apprehended at the external border should be erased from the central database when the persons concerned has been granted refugee status or a subsidiary or complementary form of protection or any other legal status; - the taking of fingerprints should be in accordance with the safeguards laid down in the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child; - the need for a clear fingerprint match; - the prohibition on the transfer of data to third countries and to other agencies with a view to prevent data being sent to the authorities of the asylum applicant's country of origin, which could put the applicant at risk. On the other hand, the Commission did not accept the main amendment of the Parliament relating to the minimum age for fingerprinting (18 years old instead of 14). The Commission recalls that within the Council, the pressure has been for a lower rather than a higher minimum age limit. With regard to the amendments brought about by the Commission inorder to take account of the developments which have occurred since the original proposal, these relate to: - comitology: the Commission envisages recourse to a comitology procedure, and to replace the procedure contained in each proposal with the procedure of the same type contained in Decison 1999/468/EEC; - territorial scope: the United Kingdom and Ireland have notified the President of the Council that they wish to take part in the adoption and application of the Eurodac Regulation. In the interests of transparency, a recital has been added to make it clear that the Regulation applies to these two Member States. The territorial application has also been adapted with a view to fully aligning the territorial scope on that of the Dublin Convention. A recital has also been added on the position of Denmark. In relation to the amendments accepted by the Commission after negotiations with the Council, the revised text includes a number of amendments which have been agreed in the Council, most of which are of a technical nature. These include in particular amendments concerning the processing of personal data, statistical requirements, specification of fingerprintsof which fingers are required, the results of fingerprint comparison, erasure and destruction of data media relating to persons found illegally present in a Member State, provisions relating to the Secretariat to the joint supervisory authority, the costs of the Central Unit (borne by the budget of the European Communities), the penalties relating to the use contrary to the purpose of Eurodac of data recorded in the central database. Finally, a certain number of amendments have been proposed by the Council however not accepted by the Commission. The amendments deal with: - the deletion of the term "citizenship of the Union": the Commission has objected this term and prefers the term "nationality of a Member State", first on the grounds that citizenship of the Union is not a clear legal concept and secondly on the grounds that it undermines the concept of national of a Member State; - implementing powers: the Council proposes to reserve the implementing powers under the Eurodac Regulation to itself rather than to delegate them to the Commission. The Commission considers that the justification given by the Council for this is totally inadequate. The Commission has noted that the retention of implementing powers by the Council would affect the roles of both the Commission and the Parliament. The Parliament would lose its right of information in relation to the implementing measures which it possesses by virtue of Article 7 of the new comitology decision. Furthermore, the Commission has also noted that in the nearest comparable case, the Customs Information System, a regulatory committee procedure was used. The European Parliament shall have to be reconsulted on any substantial change to the Commission's original position; - penalties: the council proposes to replace this Article with the following wording taken from the frozen Eurodac Convention text: "Member States shall ensure that the use of data recorded in the central database contrary to the purpose of Eurodac as laid down in Article 1 (1) shall be subject to appropriate penalties". Whilst the Commission can agree that penalties should relate specifically to the use contrary to the purpose of Eurodac of data recorded in the central database, it has three difficulties with the proposed text. First, the language used is not appropriate in a binding Community regulation. Secondly, it is regrettable that the Council should seek to delete the reference to penalties being effective, proportionate and dissuasive, since the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice is clear on this point. Thirdly, it is regrettable that the Council should seek to remove the duty to notify the Commission of the relevant national rules relating to penalties.�

• #2229
• 1999/12/02 Council Meeting
• 1999/11/18 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
  • T5-0110/1999 summary

    The Parliament adopted its opinion drafted by Mr. Hubert PIRKER (EPP, D) approving the Commission's proposal subject to a number of proposals. The following were the main amendments adopted: - only applicants for asylum of over 18 years old would be finger-printed, as opposed to over 14 years old in the Commission's proposal; - should the results of a fingerprint comparison made by the Central Unit not reveal a clear match of the fingerprints, the Member State which asked for the comparison shall be considered the Member State of origin and shall initiate the asylum procedure; - once someone has been granted refugee status or a subsidiary or complementary form of protection or any other legal status, his or her data will be erased from the EURODACE central database; - the term 'alien' has been changed to 'third country national' throughout the text; - no data shall be transferred or made accessible to the authorities of any third country, nor to any agency or authority in a Member State other than that which collects the original data except with the express written agreement of the joint supervisory authorities.�

• 1999/11/09 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0059/1999
• #2211
• 1999/10/29 Council Meeting
  • 2211 summary

    The Council took note of the state of work on the draft Regulation proposed by the Commission in July 1999, following the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, aimed at transposing into a Community instrument the texts of the "frozen" draft Eurodac Convention and Protocol. The Council had reached agreement on these texts respectively in December 1998 and March 1999. The Council took note of an intervention by the Danish delegation announcing Denmark's wish to take part in the Eurodac Regulation on an intergovernmental basis, in full respect of its Protocol to the Amsterdam Treaty. It should be noted that, in application of their respective Protocols to the Treaty, both Ireland and the United Kingdom have already notified their wish to take part in the adoption and application of the Eurodac Regulation. The Council mandated its competent bodies to finalise work on the outstanding issues in sticking as closely as possible to the agreed text of the "frozen" draft Convention and Protocol, in order to reach agreement on this regulation by the end of this year. Due account will also be taken of the Opinion of the European Parliament, expected in November. It should be noted that the two main outstanding questions concern the possibility of granting certain implementing powers to the Commission (comitology) and the territorial scope of the draft Regulation.�

• 1999/09/13 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1999/05/26 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1999)0260 summary

    PURPOSE : to establish "Eurodac" for the comparison of the fingerprints of applicants for asylum and certain other aliens. CONTENT : the Eurodac system would function through the collection of fingerprint data by Member States and their transmission to a central unit, which would compare individual sets of fingerprints against the data retained in the system. This proposal for a Regulation is the first Commission proposal in the field of asylum under Title IV of the Treaty of the European Union. Its purpose is to assist in determining the Member State which is responsible pursuant to the Dublin Convention for examining an application for asylum lodged in a Member State and otherwise to facilitate the application of the Dublin Convention under the conditions set out in the proposal. A Regulation is warranted in view of the need to apply strictly defined and harmonised rules in relation to the storage, comparison and erasure of fingerprints, for otherwise the system would not work. These rules constitute a set of precise, unconditional provisions that are directly and uniformly applicable in a mandatory way, and by their very nature, require no action by the Member States to transpose them into national law. The new Title IV of the EU Treaty, which applies to the matters covered by this proposal for a Regulation, is not applicable to the United Kingdom and Ireland, unless they "opt in". However, these 2 Member States have announced their intention of being fully involved with activities in this field. Denmark, on the other hand, has not given notice of an intention to participate in the Eurodac system. The proposal provides for the establishment of a Central Unit within the Commission which will be equipped with a computerized central database for the comparing of fingerprints of asylum applicants and certain other persons. The draft regulation provides for the fingerprints of 3 different groups to be transmitted to the Central Unit : a) applicants for asylum (data stored for 10 years); b) persons apprehended in connection with the irregular crossing of an external border (data stored for 2 years); c) persons found illegally present within the territory of a Member State (destroyed as soon as the comparison within Eurodac has been carried out). The rules governing Eurodac shall also apply to operations effected by the Member States as from the transmission of data to the Central Unit until use is made of the results of the comparison. Without prejudice to the use of data intended for the Member State of origin in databases set up under the latter's national law, fingerprints and other personal data may be processed in Eurodac only for the purposes set out in Article 15 (1) of the Dublin Convention. Collection : each Member State shall promptly take the fingerprints of every applicant for asylum of at least 14 years of age and shall promptly transmit the data. Transmission : fingerprint data transmitted by any Member State shall be compared by the Central Unit with the fingerprint data transmitted by other Member States andalready stored in the central database. Direct transmission to the Member State of origin of the results of the comparison shall be permissible where the technical conditions for such purpose are met. Responsibility : the Member State of origin shall be responsible for ensuring that : - fingerprints are taken lawfully; - fingerprints and other data are lawfully transmitted to the Central Unit; - data are accurate and up-to-date when they are transmitted to the Central Unit; - data are lawfully recorded, stored, corrected and erased; - the results of fingerprint comparisons transmitted by the Central Unit are lawfully used. It is necessary that the Member State of origin : - prevents any unauthorized person from having access to national installations in which the Member State carries out operations in accordance with the aim of Eurodac; - prevents data from being read, copied, modified, recorded or erased by unauthorized persons. Liability : any person who, or Member State which, has suffered damage, whether physical or moral, as a result of an unlawful processing operation or any act incompatible with the provisions laid down in this Regulation shall be entitled to receive compensation from the Member State responsible for that damage suffered. Claims for compensation against a Member State shall be governed by the provisions of national law of the defendant Member State. In accordance with Article 12 of the Directive 95/46/EC, the person shall obtain communication of the data relating to him or her recorded in the central database and of the Member State which transmitted them to the Central Unit. An independent joint authority shall be set up, consisting of a maximum of 2 representatives from the supervisory authorities of each Member State. Each delegation shall have 1 vote. The joint supervisory authority shall be responsible for the examination of implementation problems in connection with the operation of Eurodac. The Commission shall assist it in the performance of its tasks. The costs incurred by the national units and the cost for their connection to the central database shall be borne by each Member State. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by the representative of the Commission. The Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council an annual report on the activities of the Central Unit.�

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1999)0260
• Debate in Council: 2211
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A5-0059/1999
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0110/1999
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(2000)0100
• Amended legislative proposal for reconsultation published: 84717/2000
• Committee report tabled for plenary, reconsultation: A5-0219/2000
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0399/2000
• : Regulation 2000/2725
• : OJ L 316 15.12.2000, p. 0001

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)