As the Member States were informed on 29 April (see EUROPE 12943/9), the French Presidency of the EU Council will on Friday 6 May submit a new compromise proposal on the Eurodac Regulation, which, under the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, is to become a large database on migrants and asylum seekers.
The compromise, the first to be submitted since December 2021, includes a new category for people rescued at sea and disembarked in the Member States after these rescue operations. It proposes here a longer period of data transmission in the central system and the common Eurodac identity directory in case of a sudden influx of people.
The other novelty is the creation of a category in Eurodac for refugees benefiting from temporary protection, in particular Ukrainians, who have benefited from the 2001 directive since the beginning of March.
While the Commission is working on a platform to register Ukrainian refugees, but does not anticipate its implementation before the end of May, several Member States “had indicated their wish, at the meeting of 29 April, to adapt the proposal for a regulation on Eurodac by adding provisions relating to the registration of beneficiaries of temporary protection”, says the draft compromise of 2 May.
“From a technical point of view, the exchange of information on persons via Eurodac is the most appropriate as it limits data registrations to this database and as it minimises the number of both possible points of failure and exchanges between Member States compared to an alternative peer-to-peer system.”
“Furthermore, biometric data is an important element in establishing the exact identity of such persons, especially where they do not possess any identity documents”, the text states.
With regard to the data of persons rescued at sea, the compromise states that each Member State shall promptly collect the biometric data of each third-country national or stateless person of at least six years of age who is disembarked as a result of a search and rescue operation.
The Member State concerned shall transmit it “as soon as possible and no later than 72 hours after the date of disembarkation”. However, by way of derogation, this period of transmission of biometric data “may be extended to a maximum of 120 hours in case of sudden influx”.
As for the biometric data of beneficiaries of temporary protection, they must also be collected for individuals over the age of 6 and transmitted within 72 hours.
The compromise also adjusts elements on registration and the determination of Member States’ responsibility, notably when there has been a voluntary relocation process.
Link to the compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/1il (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)