As a result of several negotiations, the Council and the European Parliament have reached a political agreement on the European Union regulatory update facilitating the automated exchange of data for improved police cooperation.

At the European level, the fight against crime is a joint interest and responsibility. The agreement reached should improve the safety of European citizens, as police will be able to quickly search DNA, fingerprints, facial images, vehicle registration data and police records in law enforcement databases across Europe.

The current framework, often referred to as Prüm I, allows law enforcement authorities to consult the national databases of other member states with respect to DNA, fingerprint and vehicle registration data. In the process of improving coordination, if provided with a hit, authorities can quickly request relevant data from their foreign counterparts. The co-legislators agreed to expand the categories of data for which automated exchanges can occur. Once the updated law comes into force, law enforcement authorities will also be able to use the Prüm I scheme to investigate facial images and police records. In addition, if permitted by national legislation, it will also be possible to carry out searches in all categories to find missing persons or identify human remains.

If the database search gives a positive match, the country in question must provide the relevant data (e.g. name, date of birth, crime related to the data) within 48 hours.

The new law also modernises the technical infrastructure that supports the exchange of information. The new Prüm I regulation provides for eu-LISA (the EU agency in charge of large computer systems, such as the Schengen Information System) to implement a way to facilitate the establishment of connections between member states (and Europol) to retrieve data. This router will consist of a search tool and a secure communication channel. The police authority searching for a match will send its data (e.g. a fingerprint) to this router, and from there the query request will be sent to the databases of all other EU member states and Europol.

For automated searches of police records indexes, Member States and Europol will make use of the European Police Records Index System (EPRIS).

In accordance with the new rules, Europol, the EU agency that supports member states in the fight against organised and serious crime, will also be able to consult national databases to cross-check information it has received from third countries.

_____

Aquesta apunt en català / Esta entrada en español / Post en français