Agreement on a pan-European network of police databases for more effective crime control

At their meeting in Brussels on Thursday, 15 February, the council of European Union justice and home affairs ministers agreed on incorporating the main provisions of the Prüm Treaty into the EU’s legal framework. The resulting draft decision is to be forwarded without delay to the European Parliament for its comments, meaning that the process of incorporating the treaty into EU legislation could be completed before the German Presidency ends on June 30.

The treaty, which was signed by seven European states (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain) in the German town of Prüm on 27 May 2005, provides for greater cross-border cooperation of police and judicial authorities. Nine more Member States (Finland, Italy, Portugal, Slowakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Bulgaria, Romania and Greece) have since declared their intention to accede to the treaty. In early December, Germany and Austria started the automated comparison of their national databases; Spain will follow soon.

Already at the informal meeting of justice and home affairs ministers in Dresden in mid-January, Franco Frattini, Vice-President of the European Commission, Jean-Marie Cavada, representative of the European Parliament, and almost all the Member States had signalled strong support for transposing the treaty into the EU’s legal framework. At today’s formal meeting, all 16 signatories and acceding states to the Prüm Treaty jointly presented the draft Council Decision, which calls for transposing the provisions of the treaty into the legal framework of the EU essentially using the exact wording of the treaty.

In Brussels, Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble stated, «Transposing the treaty into EU legislation will enable all 27 EU Member States to benefit from the enormous added value provided by the treaty. Our aim is to create a modern police information network for more effective crime control throughout Europe. The special value of the treaty lies in the substantially improved and efficiently organized procedures for information-sharing. The initial implementation phase has yielded promising results, demonstrating that the Prüm Treaty contributes significantly to strengthening internal security in Europe».

«For example, under the treaty Austria and Germany have been able to check the contents of their national DNA databases against each other since early December 2006. This is the first time that two countries have granted each other access to their national police databases using a hit/no hit procedure. In the first eight weeks alone, German data enquiries resulted in 1,500 matches in the Austrian database, while Austrian enquiries led to 1,400 matches in the German database, including 32 matches related to homicides.»

Each match is followed by further careful checking, Minister Schäuble noted, and criminal cases cannot be solved on the basis of DNA matches alone. However, he stressed that Germany and Austria could now be expected to be able to clear up a number of unsolved crimes and prosecute and punish those responsible.

«The figures show that the idea behind the Prüm Treaty to create a network of existing national databases is a simple, yet very effective means to fight cross-border crime and international terrorism. In addition to comparison of DNA data, the exchange of information under the Prüm Treaty also includes access to national fingerprint files and motor vehicle registries. We want to gradually start sharing such information already in the first half of this year,» Minister Schäuble said.

He also highlighted the treaty’s extensive data protection provisions which comply with the latest high standards of data protection and will also be incorporated into the EU legislation.

Additional information:

On the basis of the treaty, the participating states may now grant each other automatic access to specific national databases, amounting to a quantum leap in the cross-border sharing of information. For example, the contracting states have full and direct online read access to vehicle registration data held by their partners. The contracting parties allow each other access to their DNA analysis files and dactyloscopic (fingerprint) databases in what is called a hit/no hit system. Police services may submit a query to the data system of a contracting partner to find out whether it contains data concerning a specific profile, and are automatically informed of the result within a matter of minutes. Further information, such as personal data, may be communicated in the framework of mutual legal assistance.

The treaty also contains provisions on sharing information relevant for counter-terrorism and for dealing with travelling violent offenders. To prevent terrorist offences, personal information about potential perpetrators of terrorist attacks may also be shared. For purposes of prevention, the treaty allows the authorities to exchange information on travelling violent offenders, such as hooligans, related to major events.

Furthermore, the Prüm Treaty also increases police cooperation through operational measures. For example, it provides for various types of joint operations, such as joint patrols, and for granting executive powers to police officers of other contracting states. Police officers from another Member State may be deployed to enhance security at large-scale public events while having the same rights and duties as police officers from the host country.

Because it was intended to further develop European cooperation, the Prüm Treaty was designed from the start to be incorporated into the legal framework of the EU.

You can find further information atwww.bmi.bund.de