Council Decision (EU) 2020/276 of 17 February 2020 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

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The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA (ECR, PL) 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. The committee recommended that the European Parliament give its consent to the conclusion of the Protocol. As a reminder, the Eurodac Regulation (recast) (Regulation (EU) No 603/2013) enables law enforcement authorities to consult Eurodac in order to prevent, detect and investigate terrorist offences and other serious criminal offences. Since 2001, the Agreement between the European Community and Iceland and 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. PURPOSE: to enable Iceland and Norway to participate in the law enforcement aspects of Eurodac. NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision (EU) 2020/276 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. CONTENT: the Council decided to approve, on behalf of the Union, the Protocol between the European Union and Iceland and Norway to the Agreement between the European Community and Iceland and 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 concerning access to Eurodac for law enforcement purposes. The extension of the application of the provisions governing access for law enforcement purposes of the Eurodac Regulation to Iceland and Norway shall enable: - the law enforcement authorities of these two countries to request the comparison of fingerprint data with fingerprint data entered by the other participating States and stored in the Eurodac database, when trying to establish the identity of a person suspected of terrorism or a serious crime, or a victim, or to obtain more information about that person; Before consulting Eurodac, the designated authorities of Iceland and Norway shall consult, provided that the conditions for a comparison are met, the Visa Information System under Council Decision 2008/633/JHA concerning access for consultation of the Visa…

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