First annual report to the Council and the European Parliament on the activities of the EURODAC Central Unit

Brussels, 5.5.2004 SEC(2004) 557

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING PAPER

Scope of this report

Council Regulation 2725/2000 [1] of 11 December 2000 concerning the establishment of ‘EURODAC’ for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention stipulates in Article 23(4) that «One year after the EURODAC starts operations, the Commission shall produce an evaluation report on the Central Unit, focusing on the level of demand compared with expectation and on operational and management issues in the light of experience, with a view to identifying possible short-term improvements to operational practice».

Three years after its launch, the Commission will, in accordance with Article 24(5) produce an overall evaluation of EURODAC, «examining results achieved against objectives and assessing the continuing validity of the underlying rationale and any implications for future operations».

The present report will therefore be limited to an objective evaluation of the activities of the EURODAC Central Unit. Following a detailed description of the established system, the factual data produced during the first year of activity will be highlighted and analysed. The Central Unit will be evaluated, in the light of its costeffectiveness, the quality of its service and its respect for data protection regulations.

1.2. Background

Following the signature in Dublin on 15 June 1990 of the Convention determining the State responsible for examining applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member States of the European Communities [2], the Member States realised that they would have difficulties in identifying third country nationals who had already lodged an asylum application in another Member State. For that reason, the Ministers responsible for immigration agreed, in 1991, to establish a Community-wide system for the comparison of the fingerprints of asylum applicants, named EURODAC. Negotiations therefore began in March 1996 on the basis of Title VI of the Treaty on European Union (the third pillar) for a new convention. In 1998, it was decided that the scope of EURODAC needed to be reviewed so as to facilitate the implementation of certain obligations arising from the Dublin Convention. A draft protocol extending the convention to these persons was drawn up. However, in view of the forthcoming entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty, which altered the legal basis and procedure for asylum policy, the Council then decided in December 1998 to freeze these two instruments which had not yet come into force and replace it by a Community instrument.

The Commission was requested to prepare a proposal as soon as the new Treaty came into force. It was drafted in the form of a Regulation and associated the draft Convention and draft Protocol based on the new Title IV of the EC Treaty, in particular Article 63. A Regulation was preferred to a directive in view of the need to apply strictly defined and harmonised rules in all the Member States in relation to the storage, comparison and deletion of fingerprints.

The conclusions of the Tampere European Council of 1999 state that a common European asylum system should include, in the short term, inter alia, a clear and workable determination of the state responsible for the examination of an asylum application lodged in a Member state by a third country national. These rules or mechanisms were laid down in Council Regulation (EC) N° 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 [3] (Dublin II) and its implementing Commission Regulation (EC) N°1560/2003 of 2 September 2003 [4], which together replace the Dublin Convention of 15 June 1990.

The Council Regulation (EC) N°2725/2000 of 11 Dec 2000 for the establishment of ‘EURODAC’ hereinafter called the EURODAC Regulation came into force on 15 December 2000.

The Dublin II Regulation and its implementing rules have been applicable since September 2003. Consistency has been ensured between these Regulations and the EURODAC Regulation.

The United Kingdom and Ireland, in accordance with Article 3 of the Protocol on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, have given notice of their wish to take part in this Regulation. An agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway, signed on 19 January 2001 [5] makes the Dublin II Regulation and the EURODAC Regulation applicable to these states. Therefore, when this report refers to ‘Member States’, it includes Iceland and Norway, as being members of the EURODAC Regulation. The Dublin II Regulation and the EURODAC Regulation do not apply to Denmark, in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on the position of Denmark annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community. The Council has given a mandate to the Commission to negotiate with Denmark the conclusion of an agreement concerning the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the state responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in Denmark or any other EU Member State, and to negotiate with Iceland and Norway the conclusion of a Protocol pursuant to Article 12 of the aforementioned Agreement between the EC and Norway and Iceland. An Agreement between the EC and Denmark, which will cover the substance of the EURODAC Regulation, is currently being negotiated and as long it is not signed, the Dublin Convention remains applicable to Denmark and the EURODAC Regulation is not applicable in this State. In accordance with Article 22 of the EURODAC Regulation, the Council adopted certain provisions for the transmission and comparison of fingerprints and the definition of the tasks of the central Unit in Council Regulation (EC) N°407/2002 of 28 Feb 2002 [6].

The Central Unit of EURODAC began operating on 15 January 20037 with an empty database, meaning that only asylum applications lodged after this date should be stored in EURODAC.

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First annual Report Eurodac 2004