Asylum: Eurodac system for the comparison of fingerprints of third-country nationals or stateless applicants; requests for comparison with Eurodac data. Recast

Ministers continued work on the establishment of a Common European Asylum System (CEAS) on the basis of a discussion paper which presents the state of play in relation to the discussions regarding a package of six legislative proposals which EU Member States have committed to adopt by 2012.

It relates to the following proposals:

• the proposal for the extension of the Long-Term Residents Directive to beneficiaries of international protection;
• the recast of the ‘Qualification’ Directive;
• this proposal for the recast of the EURODAC Regulation;
• the recast of the ‘Dublin’ Regulation;
• the establishment of a European Asylum Support Office (EASO);
• the amendment of Decision No 573/2007/ECestablishing the European Refugee Fund for the period 2008 to 2013 by removing funding for certain Community actions and altering the limit for funding such actions (already adopted).

As regards the EURODAC Regulation, all Member States that took the floor voiced their disappointment that the provision for law enforcement access to the Eurodac data had been omitted from the latest Commission proposal.

The paper which served as a basis for the discussion between the Member States recalled, in particular, that on 11 October 2010, the Commission had submitted a new amended proposal on which Parliament will be called to draw up a new first reading position.

Delegations recalled that the discussions regarding the technical changes to the EURODAC Regulation had already reached an advanced stage in the Council and the Parliament on the basis of the previous proposals and that these results had been taken into account by the Commission in the drafting of the new amended proposal. The main difference between it and the previous amended proposal, dating from September 2009, is that the new text does not contain the provisions referring to the access to the EURODAC system for law enforcement purposes. The Commission explains this omission by stating that it would facilitate an agreement on the four priority proposals identified by the Presidency and would thus contribute to the timely establishment of the CEAS, that it would allow for a swift implementation of the necessary technical adaptations to the existing Eurodac System and that it would facilitate the timely set up of the new IT Agency which should also be responsible for the management of Eurodac. A large number of delegations have already voiced their disappointment at the absence of provision for law enforcement access in the new proposal during recent meetings within the Council, and have reiterated their request to the Commission to come forward very soon with proposals that would allow for such access.

In the course of the debate, the Commission indicated that it was ready to reconsider the question of law enforcement access in the context of the EURODAC Regulation.