The European Parliament adopted by 414 votes to 182, with 29 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2019/816 establishing a centralised system for the identification of Member States holding conviction information on third-country nationals and stateless persons (ECRIS-TCN) to supplement the European Criminal Records Information System and Regulation (EU) 2019/818 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration and amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1726, (EU) 2018/1862 and (EU) 2019/816 for the purpose of introducing a screening of third country nationals at the external borders.

The European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure amends the Commission's proposal as follows:

Subject matter

The purpose of the proposed regulation is to allow the screening authorities access to data contained in the ECRIS-TCN or in the Common Identity Repository (CIR) for the purposes of identifying or verifying identity and for the purposes of the security checks introduced by the regulation establishing screening of third-country nationals at external borders.

The Regulation:

- establishes the conditions under which data in ECRIS-TCN may be used by the screening authorities as defined in the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a screening of third-country nationals at the external borders for the purpose of performing a security check in order to assess whether a third-country national might pose a threat to internal security;

- enables access to ECRIS-TCN for the purpose of supporting the performance of a security check established by the Regulation establishing a screening of third-country nationals at the external borders.

Data entry in ECRIS-TCN

The amended text provides that for each convicted third-country national, the central authority of the convicting Member State should create a data record in the central system. The data record should include a flag indicating that the third-country national concerned has been convicted in the previous 25 years of a terrorist offence or in the previous 15 years of any other criminal offence listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 if it is punishable by a custodial sentence or a detention order for a maximum period of at least three years under national law, including the code of the convicting Member State.

The results of a search in the Central System may only be used to support the objective of assessing whether a third-country national subject to a security check could pose a threat to internal security, in accordance with the Regulation establishing a screening of third-country nationals at the external borders.

Use of ECRIS-TCN for the purposes of the screening

The screening authorities should have the right to access and search ECRIS-TCN data using the European Search Portal for the purpose of performing the tasks conferred upon them.

In the event of a hit, the consultation of national criminal records based on the flagged ECRIS-TCN data should take place in accordance with national law and using national channels of communication.

The relevant national authorities of the convicting Member State should provide an opinion to the screening authorities on whether the presence of that person on the territory of the Member States might pose a threat to internal security, within two days where the screening takes place on the territory of the Member State or within three days where the screening takes place at external borders.

Where the relevant national authorities of the convicting Member State do not provide such an opinion within those deadlines, it should be understood that there are no security grounds to be taken into account. National criminal records should be consulted by the relevant national authorities of the convicting Member State prior to providing an opinion to the screening authorities. Where, following a hit, no opinion has been provided and there are no security grounds to be taken into account, that absence of opinion and security grounds should be recorded in the screening form.

The Regulation should apply from two years from the date of its entry into force.

The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Birgit SIPPEL (S&D, DE) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2019/816 establishing a centralised system for the identification of Member States holding conviction information on third country nationals and stateless persons (ECRIS-TCN) to supplement the European Criminal Records Information System and Regulation (EU) 2019/818 on establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration and amending Regulations (EU) 2018/1726, (EU) 2018/1862 and (EU) 2019/816 for the purpose of introducing a screening of third country nationals at the external borders.

As a reminder, the overall objective of the Commission is to allow for the use of the Common Identity Repository (CIR) and European Criminal Records Information System for third country nationals (‘ECRIS-TCN’) during the Screening. However, according to Members, the provisions granting blanket access rights to the competent authorities are not considered necessary to allow for the screening to be carried out effectively.

The committee responsible recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows:

Data entry in ECRIS-TCN

The amended text stated that for each convicted third-country national, the central authority of the convicting Member State should create a data record in the central system. The data record should include a flag indicating that the third-country national concerned has been convicted in the previous 25 years of a terrorist offence or in the previous 15 years of any other criminal offence listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2018/1240 if it is punishable by a custodial sentence or a detention order for a maximum period of at least three years under national law, including the code of the convicting Member State.

For the purpose of the security checks, only data records to which a flag has been added should be searchable.

The use of ECRIS-TCN for identifying the Member States holding criminal records information

Following a search launched by the authorities, the central system should inform the competent authority of a hit and should automatically notify the central authority of the Member State holding criminal records information on the third country national concerned of a request for an opinion on whether the presence of that person on the territory of the Member States would pose a threat to internal security. The result of a search in the central system should only be used for the purposes of assessing whether the third country national subject to the screening might pose a threat to internal security.

The central authority of the Member State holding criminal records information on the third country national subject to the screening should provide an opinion to the competent authorities within four days . The absence of opinion within four days should mean that there are no security grounds to be taken into account.

PURPOSE: to allow access to the European Criminal Records Information System for third-country nationals (ECRIS-TCN) for the purpose of security checks introduced by the Regulation establishing screening of third-country nationals at external borders.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: one of the legislative proposals accompanying the Commission's Communication of 23 September 2020 on a new Pact on Migration and Asylum is the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a screening of third-country nationals at the external borders for the purpose of determining whether a person is a threat to internal security or public policy.

The security checks as part of the screening should be at least of a similar level as the checks performed in respect of third country nationals that apply beforehand for an authorisation to enter the Union for a short stay, whether they are under a visa obligation or not.

Since access to the Entry/Exit System (EES), the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS), the Visa Information System (VIS) and the European Criminal Records Information System for third country nationals (ECRIS-TCN) is necessary for the authorities designated to carry out the screening, the regulations establishing those databases need to be amended to provide for this additional access right.

CONTENT: the purpose of this proposal is to amend Regulation (EU) 2019/816 by adding a new provision allowing the designated authorities in the context of the screening to access and search the ECRIS-TCN database for records relating to persons who have been convicted for a terrorist offence or other serious criminal offences.

To this end, the proposal specifies the conditions of accessing the European Criminal Records Information System for third country nationals database which has been set up by an EU regulation with a view to ensure uniform application across the Union and legal certainty by avoiding divergent interpretations in the Member States with regard to the use of this central database.

In addition, the proposal complements the uniform rules on security checks during the screening as set out in the proposed Screening Regulation.

The proposal also amends Regulation (EU) 2019/818 by adding a new provision that allows designated authorities, in the context of screening, to access data stored in the common identity data repository (CIR).