Brussels, 13/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - Some information held in EU Member States must be made available to other Member States or to Europol when it can be used for law enforcement and for criminal investigations, the Commission states, proposing a framework decision on the matter on 12 October. “Police services and judicial authorities of the Member States have to be supported by decisive action at EU level”, Franco Frattini says. According to the framework decision, available information will be shared either by online access, or by transfer based on an “information demand” after matching solicited information with index data that Member States shall provide for information that is not accessible online. Only information exchanged prior to prosecution is concerned, such as: DNA profiles, fingerprints, ballistics, vehicle registration information, telephone numbers and other communication data, and names contained in civil registers. A committee will be initially responsible for determining the arrangements for information sharing depending on the principle of equivalency between institutions that have information available in one Member State and those of another hoping to gain access to that information. If national law makes access subject to prior authorisation, for example from a legal authority, this authorisation should be given within twelve hours counting from when the request is received. The proposal for a framework decision on the protection of personal data processed in the context of policy and judiciary cooperation, which was adopted by the Commission on 4 October (EUROPE 9041), is meant to prevent all illegal processing of information on criminal matters under the new Commission proposal.