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Recast Eurodac regulation

In “Promoting our European Way of Life”

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On 4 May 2016, the European Commission presented proposals to reform the Common European Asylum System. To support the practical implementation of the reformed Dublin System, the Commission also proposed to review the Eurodac Regulation for fingerprinting migrants. The aim is to reinforce the system and to expand its purpose, facilitating returns and helping tackle irregular migration.

The proposal will extend the scope of the Eurodac Regulation to include the possibility for Member States to store and search data belonging to third-country nationals or stateless persons who are not applicants for international protection and found irregularly staying in the EU, so that they can be identified for return and readmission purposes. It will also allow Member States to store more personal data in Eurodac, such as names, dates of birth, nationalities, identity details or travel documents, and facial images of individuals. Increasing the information in the system will allow immigration and asylum authorities to identify an irregular third-country national or asylum applicant easily without having to request the information from another Member State separately, as is currently the case. Law enforcement authorities and Europol will still be able to search Eurodac to prevent, detect or investigate a serious crime or terrorist offence.

The proposal was assigned to the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee. The rapporteur, Monika Macovei (ECR, Romania), presented her draft report on 2 February 2017, suggesting to extend the scope of the regulation to stateless persons in addition to third-country nationals, to add an option to make queries based on alphanumeric data, and to simplify and broaden Europol's access to the database.

The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee adopted the report on 30 May 2017 and received a mandate for negotiations with the Council.

In the Council, on 28 April 2017, the Maltese Presidency suggested adding a new category of data on admitted persons, allowing law enforcement authorities to search in Eurodac on the basis of alphanumeric data and including colour copies of identity or travel documents. Based on these discussions, the Presidency presented a progress report on 9 June 2017, which was followed by an updated mandate in Coreper on 15 June 2017.

Trilogue negotiations started in September 2017. In a provisional agreement, reached on 19 June 2018, the Parliament and the Council agreed:

  • to store in addition to fingerprints, the facial images and alphanumeric data of asylum seekers and irregular migrants;
  • to lower the age for obtaining fingerprints and facial images of minors from 14 to 6 years;
  • to permit Europol to enquire the database more efficiently;
  • to also register persons falling under the Union or national resettlement schemes.

The European Commission announced in its Work Programme 2020 its intention to launch a New Pact on Asylum and Migration, which was presented on 23 September 2020. As part of the legislative package, the Commission presented a revised proposal for the Eurodac Regulation.

In the European Parliament, Jorge Buxadé Villalba (ECR, Spain) was appointed as the new rapporteur in the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee. On 19 March 2021, he presented an explanatory statement to the draft updated mandate on the proposal, pointing out the unusual situation where an amended Commission proposal is submitted under the same procedure number after the Parliament has already adopted its mandate. The Rapporteur, supported by a majority of the Shadows, put forward a procedural proposal of drafting an updated negotiating mandate.

On 12 December 2022, the Committee of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs endorsed an updated negotiating mandate on the Eurodac Regulation, which permitted the European Parliament and Council to start inter-institutional negotiations.

This goes in line with political agreements reached on 22 June 2022, when the Permanent Representatives to the European Union adopted the main elements of the first stage of the European policy reform on asylum and migration and approved the Council negotiation mandate of the Eurodac Regulation. On the same day, the European Parliament and the rotating Presidencies of the Council also signed a joint roadmap, declaring their plan to finish negotiating all the asylum and migration proposals currently on the table by February 2024, with the aim of having them enter into force by April 2024 at the latest.

On 20 December 2023, a provisional agreement was reached on the Eurodac regulation.

The main changes include allowing the storage of facial images and alphanumeric information. Children from 6-years-old will be identified (down from 14). Authorities will also include information on decisions to remove and return the person or relocate them, as well as whether a person could present a security threat (only if the person is violent or unlawfully armed, or where they have links to terrorism or a terrorist group or are involved in offenses within the scope of the European arrest warrant). Also persons disembarked in a Member State following a search and rescue operation will be recorded for statistical purposes. At Parliament’s request, links with the entry/exit system were removed.

On 8 February 2024, the Council approved the provisional agreement of 20 December 2023.

On 14 February 2024, the LIBE committee of the Parliament approved the provisional agreement, with 48 votes in favor, 17 against and 2 abstentions.

On 10 April 2024, the European Parliament plenary approved the regulation with 404 votes to 202 and 16 abstentions.

The Council adopted the act on 14 May 2024.

The final act was published in the Official Journal on 22 May 2024. It shall apply from 12 June 2026. However, Article 26 shall apply from 12 June 2029.


References:

Further reading:

Author: Anita Orav Members' Research Service, [email protected]

Visit the European Parliament homepage on Migration.

As of 15/12/2024.