Eurodac : the fingerprint database to help asylum seekers.
Date: 2003-12-30
Institutions: Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security
Subjects: EU Member State, EU migration policy, administrative formalities, asylum seeker, biometrics, database

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Eurodac
The fingerprint database to
help asylum seekers

European  Commission

Directorate-General
Justice and Home Affairs

Identifies which country should handle asylum
application

New technology is helping the countries of the European Union to decide which EU country should
deal with each application for asylum and to spot people who may be trying to take advantage of
EU asylum procedures.  This will speed up the time it takes for EU countries to decide on asylum
applications, helping genuine asylum seekers get a quicker answer to their request for asylum.

The Dublin Convention lays down the criteria for deciding which country is responsible for handling
each asylum application.  It also specifies that this country has to readmit the asylum seeker if
he/she goes irregularly to another member state of the European Union.  The two main factors
deciding the country to handle an asylum application are: to which country did the asylum seeker
first apply for asylum? and through which EU country did he/she enter the European Union?  With
people being able to travel freely around the European Union, and able to submit asylum
applications in several countries, it is often difficult to agree where someone first applied for asylum
or through which country he/she entered the EU.  The EURODAC system of checking fingerprints
will enable the authorities to identify immediately the country that should handle an asylum
application once the fingerprint database begins to be built up.

As of 15th January, 2003, all asylum applicants should have their fingerprints taken when they apply
for asylum either within or outside the European Union as part of the normal asylum application
procedure.  The fingerprints are then sent to a national access point in each participating country
and transmitted in digital format to a central unit within the European Commission, Brussels.  There
they are automatically compared with the fingerprints of everyone else who has since 15th January,
2003, applied for asylum in any EU country, and with the fingerprints of anyone who has on or after
that date been found trying to enter the European Union illegally (e.g. without the necessary papers)
but could not be refused entry.

If the fingerprints match any in EURODAC, the European Commission's automated fingerprint
identification system, news of the "hit" is sent to the country that submitted the fingerprints.  That
country may then send the applicant to the country where he/she first applied for asylum or entered
the European Union for this second country to decide what to do with the application.

If the fingerprints do not match any of those in the EURODAC system then the country that
submitted them decides what to do with the asylum applicant.

Speeds up lengthy asylum procedures

EURODAC will help genuine refugees by unclogging the European asylum system.  It will detect
multiple asylum applications to stop people from shopping around after their application has been
refused by an EU member state.  This means that anyone whose asylum application has been
refused by an EU country will not clog up the system by getting other EU countries again to
consider the application.

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# 22.2

Eurodac

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The EURODAC automated fingerprint identification system is the first such system in the European
Union and was officially launched on 15th January, 2003.  It has been set up by the European Union
for the comparison of fingerprints of asylum applicants and certain groups of illegal immigrants.  It
operates in all but one of the 15 member states of the European Union (all except Denmark, for the
time being) and in other European countries (Norway and Iceland at present) that are participating
in implementing the EURODAC regulation.  EURODAC will also apply in all other countries that join
the European Union from the date of joining.

EURODAC started from scratch on 15 January, 2003, with an empty data base.  Its effectiveness
depends on participating states collecting the necessary fingerprints and sending them for storage
in the central unit in Brussels, as legally required by the EURODAC regulation.  Since asylum
applicants are not criminals the fingerprints will not be made available for any purpose other than to
check if they have already applied for asylum in the participating states and if they have been found
trying to enter the EU illegally through an external border of a member state but could not be
refused entry.

No personal details, such as the name or details of any person, are contained in the database.  The
system relies only on biometric comparison, the safest and most accurate method of identification
available.

Towards a common European asylum system

Countries of the European Union have a long history of offering asylum and sanctuary to people
who have had to leave their homes and flee the country in which they live.  The EU has since
October, 1999, been working to develop a common policy on asylum so that all EU countries deal
similarly, fairly and humanely with those who have had to flee their homeland.  EURODAC, which
the Council of the EU decided in December 2000 to set up, is a key part of this common policy.

In addition to spotting multiple asylum applications, EURODAC enables EU member states to see if
people living illegally in an EU country have applied for asylum anywhere in the EU.

A common asylum policy is necessary in the European Union because of its policy of freedom of
movement between member states.  With the abolition of border controls between most EU
countries people can travel without hindrance between these countries.  If different EU member
states had different rules on asylum, asylum seekers would try to enter the European Union through
countries where it was easier for them to get asylum.

How does the system work?

Each participating state should promptly take the fingerprints of all fingers of every asylum seeker
over the age of 14.  The fingerprinting procedure is in accordance with the safeguards laid down in
the European Convention of Human Rights and in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The fingerprints are then compared with fingerprint data transmitted by other participating states
and already stored in the central database.  If EURODAC reveals that those fingerprints have
already been recorded, the asylum seeker will be sent back to the country where his/her fingerprints
were originally recorded for a decision on his/her asylum application.

Transmission, matching and storage of submitted fingerprints is fully automated.  After the computer
has compared submitted fingerprints, search results are returned to the participating state that
submitted them.  Fingerprints are stored in the database for a maximum of ten years.  Fingerprint
data are erased immediately if a former asylum seeker becomes a national of a state participating in
EURODAC.

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Eurodac

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To ensure that there is no misuse of the system a national supervisory authority in each
participating state monitors independently the lawfulness of the processing of the data.  As a further
safeguard a joint (EU and participating states) supervisory authority ensures that the rights of data
subjects are not violated.  It will shortly be replaced by an independent supervisory authority, the
European Data Protection Supervisor, that the European Union is setting up.

As a final safeguard the European Commission will submit to the European Parliament and to the
Council of the EU an annual report on the management and working of EURODAC.

Illegal immigrants

EURODAC will also be used to a limited and clearly defined extent to help the authorities deal with
illegal immigrants.  Any participating state that finds anyone living illegally in its territory may take
that person's fingerprints and ask EURODAC to compare them with fingerprints in its data base.
This is to see if the illegal resident had applied for asylum anywhere in the European Union.  If the
fingerprints match any in the database, the illegal resident may be sent to the country where he/she
first applied for asylum.

These fingerprints will only be used for a one-off check by EURODAC, and they will not be stored.

However, anyone allowed into a participating country after being found trying to enter EU territory
without the necessary papers and authorisations will have their fingerprints taken and sent for
storage in EURODAC.  This means that if they later apply for asylum their fingerprints in the
database will show which country they first entered, and that country will be responsible for dealing
with the asylum application.

In no case will the fingerprints be used for any purpose other than to determine which country
should deal with asylum applications.

Published by the Information and Communication unit of the Directorate-General Justice and
Home Affairs of the European Commission, B-1049 Brussels – January 2003
Website: http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/index_en.htm

NE-50-03-158-EN-N

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