Brussels, 04/08/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 1 August 2008, the European Commission adopted its second monitoring and evaluation report on the operation of Council Common Position 2005/69/JHA that obliges mess to exchange data about lost and stolen passports with Interpol. The report notes progress since its 2006 report, but recommends a more proactive approach to prevent criminals from being able to make use of lost and stolen passports.
In a press release, EU Justice, Freedom and Security Commission Jacques Barrot commented: 'This report clearly demonstrates that all EU Member States are making a remarkable contribution to global efforts to tackle organised crime and terrorism. The latest figures provided by Interpol, show that the data provided by EU Member States represent more than 2/3 of the total number of entries in the Interpol database and carry out approximately 50% of the total searches of the database.' All EU Member States are feeding the consulting the Interpol database these days, but implementation of the Common Position remains incomplete. Member States could make better use of the database for border controls rather than for judicial enquiries alone. Important issues in efficient and speedy follow-up of successful identification of a passport in the database include a) adequate round-the-clock staffing of the contact point that queries the database; b) providing this instance with direct access to the national passport database and images of passport holders; and c) adopting some standards as regards such request for follow-up like agreeing on a maximum response time. The Council will examine measures to be taken on the basis of the report, which can be accessed at the JHA DG website: http://www.ec.europa.eu/justice_home/index_en.htm (A.B. /transl fl)