Exchange of certain data with Interpol

Gestohlene, verlorene oder unterschlagene Pässe und Blankopässe werden dazu verwendet, der Strafverfolgung zu entgehen und illegale Handlungen zu begehen, die die Sicherheit der Union und der einzelnen Mitgliedstaaten gefährden können. Ziel dieses Gemeinsamen Standpunkts ist die Verhütung und Bekämpfung von schweren und organisierten Straftaten einschließlich terroristischer Handlungen durch die Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Strafverfolgungsbehörden der Mitgliedstaaten sowie zwischen diesen und gleichartigen Behörden in Drittländern durch den Austausch von Passdaten mit Interpol.

ACT

Council Common Position 2005/69/JHA of 24 January 2005 on exchanging certain data with Interpol.

SUMMARY

One of the Union’s objectives is to provide citizens with a high level of safety and, therefore, it is essential to enhance cooperation between the Union’s law enforcement authorities. Issued or blank passports that are stolen, lost or misappropriated are used to elude law enforcement and to carry out illicit activities capable of jeopardising the security of the Union.

To combat organised and international crime and terrorism, this Common Position meets the requirement to implement an integrated system for the exchange of information on stolen and lost passports making use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Interpol STD database.

All Member States are affiliated to the International Criminal Police Organisation – Interpol. This organisation receives, stores and circulates data to assist the competent law enforcement authorities in preventing and combating international crime. Its database on stolen travel documents allows Interpol’s members to share data on lost and stolen passports.

The Common Position requires Member States’ competent law enforcement authorities to exchange certain non-personal data on stolen and lost passports with the other States who are members of Interpol by using the database on stolen travel documents. Europol ensures an adequate level of protection of personal data and also respects the fundamental rights and liberties regarding the automatic processing of personal data.

 Each Member State may agree with Interpol the modalities for exchanging all passport data. Such data are contained in the relevant national database, if it participates, or in the SIS. They also ensure that their competent law enforcement authorities query the Interpol database in accordance with this Common Position.

The Commission will, submit a report to the Council on the operation of this Common Position by December 2005. The Council will assess the extent to which Member States comply with this Common Position and take the appropriate action.

RELATED ACTS

Commission report on the application of Council Common Position 2005/69/JHA [COM (2006) 167].

As provided for in the Common Position, the Commission has presented its report on the application of the Common Position. Of the 25 Member States contacted, 18 participate in Interpol's STD database on stolen documents and provide the database with data on lost or stolen travel documents.

However, the figures reported by Interpol show that, even though the EU is the main provider of information to the database on travel documents, it carries out only a small proportion of the searches. The report thus calls on the Member States to adopt a more pro-active approach, providing active encouragement to officials of the law enforcement authorities to use the database.

last update 27.04.2007