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1.A system known as "Eurodac" is hereby established, the purpose of which shall be to assist in determining which Member State is to be responsible pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 for examining an application for international protection lodged in a Member State by a third-country national or a stateless person, and otherwise to facilitate the application of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 under the conditions set out in this Regulation.
2.This Regulation also lays down the conditions under which Member States' designated authorities and the European Police Office (Europol) may request the comparison of fingerprint data with those stored in the Central System for law enforcement purposes.
3.Without prejudice to the processing of data intended for Eurodac by the Member State of origin in databases set up under the latter's national law, fingerprint data and other personal data may be processed in Eurodac only for the purposes set out in this Regulation and Article 34(1) of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013.
1.For the purposes of this Regulation:
(a)'applicant for international protection' means a third-country national or a stateless person who has made an application for international protection as defined in Article 2(h) of Directive 2011/95/EU in respect of which a final decision has not yet been taken;
(b)'Member State of origin' means:
in relation to a person covered by Article 9(1), the Member State which transmits the personal data to the Central System and receives the results of the comparison;
in relation to a person covered by Article 14(1), the Member State which transmits the personal data to the Central System;
in relation to a person covered by Article 17(1), the Member State which transmits the personal data to the Central System and receives the results of the comparison;
(c)'beneficiary of international protection' means a third-country national or a stateless person who has been granted international protection as defined in Article 2(a) of Directive 2011/95/EU;
(d)'hit' means the existence of a match or matches established by the Central System by comparison between fingerprint data recorded in the computerised central database and those transmitted by a Member State with regard to a person, without prejudice to the requirement that Member States shall immediately check the results of the comparison pursuant to Article 25(4);
(e)'National Access Point' means the designated national system which communicates with the Central System;
(f)'Agency' means the Agency established by Regulation (EU) No 1077/2011;
(g)'Europol' means the European Police Office established by Decision 2009/371/JHA;
(h)'Eurodac data' means all data stored in the Central System in accordance with Article 11 and Article 14(2);
(i)'law enforcement' means the prevention, detection or investigation of terrorist offences or of other serious criminal offences;
(j)'terrorist offences' means the offences under national law which correspond or are equivalent to those referred to in Articles 1 to 4 of Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA;
(k)'serious criminal offences' means the forms of crime which correspond or are equivalent to those referred to in Article 2(2) of Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA, if they are punishable under national law by a custodial sentence or a detention order for a maximum period of at least three years;
(l)'fingerprint data' means the data relating to fingerprints of all or at least the index fingers, and if those are missing, the prints of all other fingers of a person, or a latent fingerprint.
2.The terms defined in Article 2 of Directive 95/46/EC shall have the same meaning in this Regulation in so far as personal data are processed by the authorities of the Member States for the purposes laid down in Article 1(1) of this Regulation.
3.Unless stated otherwise, the terms defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 shall have the same meaning in this Regulation.
4.The terms defined in Article 2 of Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA shall have the same meaning in this Regulation in so far as personal data are processed by the authorities of the Member States for the purposes laid down in Article 1(2) of this Regulation.
1.Eurodac shall consist of:
(a)a computerised central fingerprint database ("Central System") composed of:
a Central Unit,
a Business Continuity Plan and System;
(b)a communication infrastructure between the Central System and Member States that provides an encrypted virtual network dedicated to Eurodac data ("Communication Infrastructure").
2.Each Member State shall have a single National Access Point.
3.Data on persons covered by Articles 9(1), 14(1) and 17(1) which are processed in the Central System shall be processed on behalf of the Member State of origin under the conditions set out in this Regulation and separated by appropriate technical means.
4.The rules governing Eurodac shall also apply to operations carried out by the Member States as from the transmission of data to the Central System until use is made of the results of the comparison.
5.The procedure for taking fingerprints shall be determined and applied in accordance with the national practice of the Member State concerned and in accordance with the safeguards laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
1.The Agency shall be responsible for the operational management of Eurodac.
The operational management of Eurodac shall consist of all the tasks necessary to keep Eurodac functioning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in accordance with this Regulation, in particular the maintenance work and technical developments necessary to ensure that the system functions at a satisfactory level of operational quality, in particular as regards the time required for interrogation of the Central System. A Business Continuity Plan and System shall be developed taking into account maintenance needs and unforeseen downtime of the system, including the impact of business continuity measures on data protection and security.
The Agency shall ensure, in cooperation with the Member States, that at all times the best available and most secure technology and techniques, subject to a cost-benefit analysis, are used for the Central System.
2.The Agency shall be responsible for the following tasks relating to the Communication Infrastructure:
(a)supervision;
(b)security;
(c)the coordination of relations between the Member States and the provider.
3.The Commission shall be responsible for all tasks relating to the Communication Infrastructure other than those referred to in paragraph 2, in particular:
(a)the implementation of the budget;
(b)acquisition and renewal;
(c)contractual matters.
4.Without prejudice to Article 17 of the Staff Regulations, the Agency shall apply appropriate rules of professional secrecy or other equivalent duties of confidentiality to all its staff required to work with Eurodac data. This obligation shall also apply after such staff leave office or employment or after the termination of their duties.
1.For the purposes laid down in Article 1(2), Member States shall designate the authorities that are authorised to request comparisons with Eurodac data pursuant to this Regulation. Designated authorities shall be authorities of the Member States which are responsible for the prevention, detection or investigation of terrorist offences or of other serious criminal offences. Designated authorities shall not include agencies or units exclusively responsible for intelligence relating to national security.
2.Each Member State shall keep a list of the designated authorities.
3.Each Member State shall keep a list of the operating units within the designated authorities that are authorised to request comparisons with Eurodac data through the National Access Point.
1.For the purposes laid down in Article 1(2), each Member State shall designate a single national authority or a unit of such an authority to act as its verifying authority. The verifying authority shall be an authority of the Member State which is responsible for the prevention, detection or investigation of terrorist offences or of other serious criminal offences.
The designated authority and the verifying authority may be part of the same organisation, if permitted under national law, but the verifying authority shall act independently when performing its tasks under this Regulation. The verifying authority shall be separate from the operating units referred to in Article 5(3) and shall not receive instructions from them as regards the outcome of the verification.
Member States may designate more than one verifying authority to reflect their organisational and administrative structures, in accordance with their constitutional or legal requirements.
2.The verifying authority shall ensure that the conditions for requesting comparisons of fingerprints with Eurodac data are fulfilled.
Only duly empowered staff of the verifying authority shall be authorised to receive and transmit a request for access to Eurodac in accordance with Article 19.
Only the verifying authority shall be authorised to forward requests for comparison of fingerprints to the National Access Point.
1.For the purposes laid down in Article 1(2), Europol shall designate a specialised unit with duly empowered Europol officials to act as its verifying authority, which shall act independently of the designated authority referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article when performing its tasks under this Regulation and shall not receive instructions from the designated authority as regards the outcome of the verification. The unit shall ensure that the conditions for requesting comparisons of fingerprints with Eurodac data are fulfilled. Europol shall designate in agreement with any Member State the National Access Point of that Member State which shall communicate its requests for comparison of fingerprint data to the Central System.
2.For the purposes laid down in Article 1(2), Europol shall designate an operating unit that is authorised to request comparisons with Eurodac data through its designated National Access Point. The designated authority shall be an operating unit of Europol which is competent to collect, store, process, analyse and exchange information to support and strengthen action by Member States in preventing, detecting or investigating terrorist offences or other serious criminal offences falling within Europol's mandate.
1.The Agency shall draw up statistics on the work of the Central System every quarter, indicating in particular:
(a)the number of data sets transmitted on persons referred to in Articles 9(1), 14(1) and 17(1);
(b)the number of hits for applicants for international protection who have lodged an application for international protection in another Member State;
(c)the number of hits for persons referred to in Article 14(1) who have subsequently lodged an application for international protection;
(d)the number of hits for persons referred to in Article 17(1) who had previously lodged an application for international protection in another Member State;
(e)the number of fingerprint data which the Central System had to request more than once from the Member States of origin because the fingerprint data originally transmitted did not lend themselves to comparison using the computerised fingerprint recognition system;
(f)the number of data sets marked, unmarked, blocked and unblocked in accordance with Article 18(1) and (3);
(g)the number of hits for persons referred to in Article 18(1) for whom hits have been recorded under points (b) and (d) of this Article;
(h)the number of requests and hits referred to in Article 20(1);
(i)the number of requests and hits referred to in Article 21(1).
2.At the end of each year, statistical data shall be established in the form of a compilation of the quarterly statistics for that year, including an indication of the number of persons for whom hits have been recorded under paragraph 1(b), (c) and (d). The statistics shall contain a breakdown of data for each Member State. The results shall be made public.