On Friday, 8 December, European Justice Ministers reached their position on the draft regulation to create an ECRIS-TCN system that will help to swiftly check whether a member state has information on the convictions of a third country national (see EUROPE 11819).
Although she welcomes the fact is that an agreement in principle had been reached between the member states, the European Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, regretted its lack of ambition compared with the initial text presented by the Commission. On two points in particular, the Commissioner is hoping that negotiations with the European Parliament will help to improve the text: the collection of digital fingerprints and system use frequency.
Limit on collection of digital fingerprints. The member states agreed to limit the collection of digital fingerprints for their country nationals who had received convictions of at least six months or who had criminal convictions, under the terms of the national legislation of the member states, to a prison sentence of at least 12 months.
Ms Jourová argued, on the contrary, that this kind of collection should be as broad as possible and cover minor offences, “Digital fingerprints are often the only way of ensuring the identification of third country nationals in member states, given the fact that travel documents can often be unreliable".
The Minister from the Czech Republic, Robert Pelikán, said that the compromise included a collection of digital fingerprints that was already too wide and stated, “This doesn't mean for all that, that any third country national is a terrorist".
Exceptions applicable to system use. The member states wanted to introduce a certain amount of flexibility into the use of the ECRIS-TCN system by allowing the national authority to decide not to use the system, “When this is not appropriate in the circumstances of the case in question". This situation applies, for example, to certain urgent criminal proceedings and transit cases or for minor offences such as road offences. On the other hand, the Commissioner argued for a systematic use of the system and not on a case-by-case basis.
The agreement in principle has also rectified a shortcoming in the ECRIS system by including in the new system, dual nationals who possess the nationality of a third country and that of a member state of the EU. With regard to the question of exclusively European nationals, the ministers ultimately decided to return to this question when the Commission assesses the functioning of the new system in four years time (see EUROPE 11912).
The Slovene Minister, Goran Klemenčič, said that in the future they would need to look at the possibility of providing access to the system for countries involved in the Schengen area. Commissioner Jourová considered that, “We must avoid any rash initial responses and need to think of the member states and what use this will be for them".
Finally, in terms of the calendar, member states increased the transposition deadline for the measures required in compliance with this regulation to 36 months, instead of the proposed 24. The Commissioner emphasised “We need to urgently improve the system" and called on the member states to think of as early a date as possible but which would be realistic for them. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)