EU may give police access to illegal immigrant database

(BRUSSELS) - Police across Europe could be given access to fingerprints taken from illegal immigrants to help combat terrorism, under proposals made Thursday by the European Commission.

The commission wants to give police the right to use a vast fingerprint database known as EURODAC "for the purpose of fighting terrorism and serious crime, such as trafficking in human beings and in drugs".

"The absence of the possibility for European law enforcement authorities to access EURODAC to combat terrorism is a shortcoming," European Union Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot said in a statement.

"This improvement in the fight against terrorism and criminality will go hand in hand with the protection of fundamental rights, including the protection of personal data," he said.

The EU database contains the fingerprints of applicants for international protection and third country nationals who have crossed the border of an EU nation illegally.

It was created and has ben so-far solely used for EU asylum purposes.

Individual nations have their own databases but exchanging information between the 27 countries is complicated and time consuming.

Allowing access to fingerprints 
on EURODAC - briefing