Council Common Position 2005/69/JHA of 24 January 2005 on exchanging certain data with Interpol
Date: 2005-01-24
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU police cooperation, Interpol, disclosure of information, fight against crime, passport, terrorism

29.1.2005

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 27/61

(Acts adopted under Title VI of the Treaty on European Union)

COUNCIL COMMON POSITION 2005/69/JHA

of 24 January 2005

on exchanging certain data with Interpol

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in
particular Articles 30(1)(b) and 34(2)(a) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Whereas:

One of the Union’s objectives is to provide citizens with
a high level of safety within an area of freedom, security
and justice. Closer cooperation between Member States’
competent law enforcement authorities is essential for
the achievement of that objective.

The protection of the Union against threats posed by
international and organised crime,
including terrorism,
requires that common action includes the exchange of
information between Member States’
law enforcement
authorities competent
in criminal matters, as well as
with international partners.

Issued and blank stolen,
lost or misappropriated
passports are used to elude law enforcement with the
object of carrying out illicit activities capable of jeopar-
dising the security of the Union and of each one of the
Member States. Meaningful action can only be taken at
Union level by reason of the very nature of the threat.
Action by the Member States individually could not
achieve the abovementioned objective. This Common
is necessary to
Position does not go beyond what
achieve that objective.

All Member States are affiliated to the International
Criminal Police Organisation — Interpol. To fulfil
its
mission, Interpol receives, stores, and circulates data to
assist competent law enforcement authorities to prevent
and combat international crime. The Interpol database on
Stolen Travel Documents permits Interpol’s members to
share between themselves the data on lost and stolen
passports.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

database. This Common Position is a first response to
that request that should be followed-up by the setting up
of the technical functionality in the SIS to achieve that
aim.

The exchange of Member States’ data on stolen, lost or
misappropriated passports with the Interpol database on
Stolen Travel Documents as well as the processing of
these data, should respect applicable data protection
rules both of
the individual Member States and of
Interpol.

This Common Position obliges Member States to ensure
that their competent authorities will exchange the afore-
mentioned data with the Interpol database on Stolen
Travel Documents,
in parallel to entering them in the
relevant national database, and the SIS, as regards the
Member States participating in it. The obligation arises
from the moment the national authorities become aware
loss or misappropriation. A further
the
of
to set up the necessary infrastructure to
requirement
Interpol database
consultation of
facilitate
the
the
acknowledges
the
relevance of
the law enforcement
latter.

theft,

The conditions of
the exchange shall be agreed with
Interpol in order to ensure that the data exchanged will
respect the data protection principles that lie at the heart
in particular with
of data exchange within the Union,
regard to the exchange and automatic processing of
such data.

This Common Position respects the fundamental rights
and observes the principles recognised in particular by
Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union and reflected
in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European
Union,

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

HAS ADOPTED THIS COMMON POSITION:

Article 1

Purpose

in its
The European Council of 25 March 2004,
Declaration on combating terrorism,
instructed the
Council to take forward work on the creation by end
2005 of an integrated system for the exchange of infor-
mation on stolen and lost passports having recourse to
the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Interpol

The purpose of this Common Position is to prevent and combat
serious and organised crime,
including terrorism, by ensuring
that Member States take the measures necessary to improve
cooperation between their competent law enforcement autho-
rities and between them and such authorities in third Countries
by exchanging passport data with Interpol.

L 27/62

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

29.1.2005

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Common Position, the following defi-
nitions shall apply:

1.

2.

3.

‘Passport data’ shall mean data on issued and blank passports
that are stolen,
lost or misappropriated and formatted for
integration in a specific information system. Passport data
that will be exchanged with the Interpol database shall
consist only of the passport number, country of issuance
and the document type.

‘Interpol database’ shall mean the Automatic Search Facility
— Stolen Travel Document database managed by the Inter-
national Criminal Police Organisation — Interpol.

‘Relevant national database’ shall mean the police or judicial
database or databases in a Member State that contain data
on issued and blank passports that are stolen, lost or misap-
propriated.

Article 3

Common action

The

competent

authorities of

1.
the
law enforcement
Member States shall exchange all present and future passport
data with Interpol. They shall only share them with other
Interpol members that ensure an adequate level of protection
of personal data. It shall also be ensured that fundamental rights
and liberties regarding the automatic processing of personal
data shall be respected. Member States may decide that they
shall only share their data with other Interpol members that
have committed themselves to exchange at least the same data.

Each Member State may, subject to the requirements set
2.
forth in paragraph 1, agree with Interpol the modalities for
exchanging all present passport data in its possession with
Interpol. Such data are contained in the relevant national
database, or in the SIS, if it participates.

3.
Each Member State shall ensure that immediately after
data have been entered in its relevant national database or in
the SIS,
if it participates, these data are also exchanged with
Interpol.

4. Member States shall ensure that
law
enforcement authorities will query the Interpol database for
the purpose of this Common Position each time when appro-
priate for the performance of their task. Member States shall

their competent

ensure that they set up the infrastructures required to facilitate
consultation as soon as possible but at the latest by December
2005.

the purpose set out

The exchange of personal data in compliance with the
5.
take
obligation laid down in this Common Position shall
place for
in Article 1, ensuring an
adequate level of protection of personal data in the relevant
Interpol Member Country and the respect
for fundamental
regarding the automatic processing of
rights and liberties
personal data. To that end, Member States shall ensure that
the exchange and sharing of data takes place on the appropriate
conditions and subject to the above requirements.

6.
Each Member State shall ensure that if a positive identifi-
cation (hit) occurs against the Interpol database its competent
authorities shall take action in accordance with their national
law, e.g. verify, when appropriate, the correctness of the data
with the country that introduced the data.

Article 4

Monitoring and evaluation

On the basis of information provided by the Member States, the
Commission shall, by December 2005, submit a report to the
this Common Position. The
Council on the operation of
to which Member States
shall assess
Council
comply with this Common Position and take the appropriate
action.

the extent

Article 5

Taking effect

This Common Position shall
adoption.

take effect on the date of

its

Article 6

Publication

This Common Position shall be published in the Official Journal
of the European Union.

Done at Brussels, 24 January 2005.

For the Council
The President

F. BODEN