(BRUSSELS) - The EU's top justice official said Thursday that he will inspect detention centres where illegal immigrants are held until they can be expelled to ensure that new rules protecting them are enforced.

"Believe me, I will be sticking my nose into detention conditions" for foreigners without correct papers, Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot told reporters in Brussels.

He said that the Vincennes centre in Paris, France's biggest and which was gutted by fire last weekend, "is a bad example" of the type of immigrant processing facilities that exist in Europe.

Of the 249 people there at the time, 14 non-EU nationals without visas or work permits escaped after what appeared to be an arson attack destroyed the centre's two main buildings. No one was seriously injured, police said.

The rules, part of the so-called EU "returns directive", oblige the 27 EU nations to ensure that those held have access to legal council, family members and consular representatives and are kept apart from prisoners.

Barrot also said that he would keep a close eye on the way other aspects of new EU rules for handling illegal immigrants are transposed into national law by the member countries.

Rights groups have criticised the laws for allowing people to be detained for up to 18 months while their expulsion orders are processed, with the possibility of banning them from EU territory for five years if they resist.

Barrot said the rules do not oblige states to hold illegal immigrants for that long, and that most should be held for six months at most.

But he has noted that nine EU nations currently set no limits on how long people may be kept in custody and that this would change under the legislation, which is expected to come into force in 2010.

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