Asylum: Eurodac regulation

Opinion on the Proposal for a Regulation concerning the establishment of 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of Regulation (EC) No [.../...][establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an application for international protection lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person] (COM(2008)825), OJ C 229, 23.09.2009, p. 6

The Proposal is a revision of the EURODAC Regulation and its implementing regulation, Council Regulation No 407/2002/EC, and it aims at inter alia:

• improving the efficiency of the implementation of the EURODAC Regulation,
• ensuring consistency with the asylum acquis evolved since the adoption of the above-mentioned Regulation,
• updating a number of provisions taking account of factual developments since the adoption of the Regulation,
• establishing a new management framework.

The EDPS supports this Proposal and draws attention to the need to ensure full consistency between the EURODAC and Dublin Regulations. The EDPS sees the need for a better coordination and harmonization at EU level of the procedures for fingerprinting, whether they concern asylum seekers or any other persons subject to the EURODAC procedure. He draws special attention to the question of the age limits for fingerprinting, and in particular the difficulties occurring in several Member States to determine the age of young asylum seekers. The EDPS insists on a clarification of the provisions regarding the rights of the data subjects, and in particular he underlines that the national data controllers are primarily responsible to ensure the application of these rights.