EC/Denmark Agreement on the establishment of the State responsible for examining a request for asylum and 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for law enforcement purposes. Protocol

PURPOSE: to enable Denmark to participate in the law enforcement aspects of Eurodac in order to strengthen police cooperation between the competent authorities of the Member States and those of Denmark for the purpose of the prevention, detection and investigation of terrorist offences and other serious criminal offences.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision (EU) 2019/836 on the conclusion of the Protocol to the Agreement between the European Community and the Kingdom of Denmark on the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the State responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in Denmark or any other Member State of the European Union and ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention regarding access to Eurodac for law enforcement purposes.

CONTENT: the Council decided to approve, on behalf of the Union, the Protocol to the Agreement between the European Community and Denmark concerning the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged by a third-country national in Denmark or any other Member State of the European Union and the 'Eurodac' system for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention concerning access to Eurodac for law enforcement purposes.

The Protocol was signed on 27 March 2019, subject to its conclusion at a later date. It enables the extension to Denmark of the application of the provisions governing access for law enforcement purposes of the Eurodac Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 603/2013).

In concrete terms, the protocol:

- shall allow Danish law enforcement authorities to request the comparison of fingerprint data with those entered by other participating States and stored in the Eurodac database, when attempting to establish the identity of a terrorist suspect or a serious crime suspect, or a victim, or to obtain more information about that person;

- shall allow law enforcement authorities of all other participating States, whether other Member States of the Union or associated countries, to request the comparison of fingerprint data with those entered by Denmark and stored in the Eurodac database for the same purpose.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 25.5.2019.