RECOMMENDATION on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Protocol between the European Union, Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway to the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway concerning the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the State responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in a Member State or in Iceland or Norway regarding  access to Eurodac for law enforcement purposes

11.12.2019 - (15791/2018 – C9‑0155/2019 – 2018/0419(NLE)) - ***

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Rapporteur: Jadwiga Wiśniewska

DRAFT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION

on the draft Council decision on the conclusion of the Protocol between the European Union, Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway to the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway concerning the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the State responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in a Member State or in Iceland or Norway regarding access to Eurodac for law enforcement purposes

(15791/2018 – C9‑0155/2019 – 2018/0419(NLE))

(Consent)

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the draft Council decision (15791/2018),

– having regard to the draft Protocol between the European Union,  Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway to the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway concerning the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the State responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in a Member State or in Iceland or Norway regarding access to Eurodac for law enforcement purposes (15792/2018),

– having regard to the request for consent submitted by the Council in accordance with Article  87(2), point (a), Article 88(2), first subparagraph, point (a) and Article 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (C9‑0155/2019),

– having regard to Rule 105(1) and (4) and Rule 114(7) of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the recommendation of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A9-0053/2019),

1. Gives its consent to the conclusion of the protocol;

2. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the governments and parliaments of the Member States and of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway.

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

The ‘recast’ Eurodac Regulation (Regulation (EU) No. 603/2013) allowed for the consultation of Eurodac by law enforcement authorities for the purpose of prevention, detection and investigation of terrorist offences and other serious criminal offences. This aims at enabling law enforcement authorities to request the comparison of fingerprint data with those stored in the Eurodac central database when they seek to establish the exact identity of or obtain further information for the purpose of prevention, detection or investigation of terrorist offences or of other serious criminal offences.

 

Since 2001, the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway concerning the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the State responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in a Member State or in Iceland or Norway also covers the application of the ‘Dublin-related’ parts of Eurodac. However, law enforcement access, which was a new element of the ‘recast’ Eurodac Regulation compared to the original Eurodac regime (Council Regulation (EC) No 2725/2000) has not been regulated so far by the said Agreement.

 

The negotiations on an agreement between the European Union, on the one part, and Iceland and Norway, on the other part, on the modalities of the participation by Iceland and Norway to the procedure for comparison and data transmission for law enforcement purposes foreseen in chapter VI of the ‘recast’ Eurodac Regulation have been finalised and an Agreement in the form of a Protocol to the Agreement of 19 January 2001, extending the application of the Agreement of 19 January 2001 to law enforcement was initialled.

 

The extension of the law enforcement provisions of the Regulation (EU) No. 603/2013 to Iceland and Norway would enable the law enforcement authorities of Iceland and Norway to request a comparison of fingerprint data against the data entered by other participating States and stored in the Eurodac database when they seek to establish the identity or get further information concerning a person who is suspected of a serious crime or terrorism or concerning a victim. On the other hand, it would enable the law enforcement authorities of all other participating States, whether other EU Member States or Associates Countries, to request a comparison of fingerprint data against the data entered by Iceland and Norway and stored in the Eurodac database, for the same purposes.

 

The Council will decide by qualified majority after the signing of the agreement, on behalf of the Union and only after having obtained the consent of the European Parliament in accordance with Article 218(6), second subparagraph, point (a) (v) and 218(8) TFEU.

 

In light of the above-mentioned considerations, the rapporteur recommends that the members of Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs support this report and that the European Parliament gives its consent.

PROCEDURE – COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

Title	Conclusion of a Protocol between the European Union, the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway to the Agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway concerning the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the State responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in a Member State or in Iceland or Norway regarding the access to Eurodac for law enforcement purposes
References	15791/2018 – C9-0155/2019 – 2018/0419(NLE)
Date of consultation / request for consent	25.10.2019
Committee responsible  Date announced in plenary	LIBE 13.11.2019
Rapporteurs  Date appointed	Jadwiga Wiśniewska 24.9.2019
Discussed in committee	21.10.2019	9.12.2019
Date adopted	9.12.2019
Result of final vote	+: –: 0:	46 2 0
Members present for the final vote	Malik Azmani, Pernando Barrena Arza, Pietro Bartolo, Saskia Bricmont, Damien Carême, Caterina Chinnici, Anna Júlia Donáth, Lena Düpont, Laura Ferrara, Nicolaus Fest, Sophia in ‘t Veld, Assita Kanko, Peter Kofod, Moritz Körner, Jeroen Lenaers, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Magid Magid, Roberta Metsola, Claude Moraes, Nadine Morano, Javier Moreno Sánchez, Nicola Procaccini, Emil Radev, Paulo Rangel, Terry Reintke, Ralf Seekatz, Birgit Sippel, Sylwia Spurek, Tineke Strik, Bettina Vollath, Elena Yoncheva
Substitutes present for the final vote	Abir Al-Sahlani, Bartosz Arłukowicz, Patrick Breyer, Ondřej Kovařík, Erik Marquardt, Jan-Christoph Oetjen, Kris Peeters, Anne-Sophie Pelletier, Franco Roberti, Irina Von Wiese, Axel Voss, Tomáš Zdechovský
Substitutes under Rule 209(7) present for the final vote	Alexander Bernhuber, Heléne Fritzon, Joachim Schuster, Edina Tóth, Jörgen Warborn
Date tabled	11.12.2019

 

 

FINAL VOTE BY ROLL CALL IN COMMITTEE RESPONSIBLE

46	+
ECR	Assita Kanko, Nicola Procaccini
ID	Nicolaus Fest, Peter Kofod
NI	Laura Ferrara
PPE	Bartosz Arłukowicz, Alexander Bernhuber, Lena Düpont, Jeroen Lenaers, Roberta Metsola, Nadine Morano, Kris Peeters, Emil Radev, Paulo Rangel, Ralf Seekatz, Edina Tóth, Axel Voss, Jörgen Warborn, Tomáš Zdechovský
RENEW	Abir Al-Sahlani, Malik Azmani, Anna Júlia Donáth, Sophia in 't Veld, Moritz Körner, Ondřej Kovařík, Jan-Christoph Oetjen, Irina Von Wiese
S&D	Pietro Bartolo, Caterina Chinnici, Heléne Fritzon, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Claude Moraes, Javier Moreno Sánchez, Franco Roberti, Joachim Schuster, Birgit Sippel, Sylwia Spurek, Bettina Vollath, Elena Yoncheva
VERTS/ALE	Patrick Breyer, Saskia Bricmont, Damien Carême, Magid Magid, Erik Marquardt, Terry Reintke, Tineke Strik

 

2	-
GUE/NGL	Pernando Barrena Arza, Anne-Sophie Pelletier

 

0	0

 

Key to symbols:

+ : in favour

- : against

0 : abstention