This is the sixth annual report presented by the
Commission as required by Council Regulation (EC) No 2725/2000 concerning the
establishment of ‘EURODAC’ for the comparison of fingerprints for the
effective application of the Dublin Convention (“EURODAC Regulation”). It
includes information on the management and the performance of the system in
2008, and assesses the output and the cost-effectiveness of EURODAC, as well
as the quality of its Central Unit’s service.
The Commission put forward a proposal
for amending the EURODAC Regulation on 3 December 2008. In 2008, the geographical scope of the EURODAC Regulation was expanded to cover Switzerland
which connected to EURODAC on 12 December 2008.
The EURODAC Central Unit
- Management of the system: given
the increasing amount of data to manage (some categories of transactions
have to be stored for 10 years), the natural obsolescence of the
technical platform (delivered in 2001) and the unpredictable trends of
the EURODAC transaction volume due to the accession of new Member
States, an upgrading of the EURODAC system is being carried out and is
planned to be finalised in the first quarter of 2010. In 2008, the "secure- Trans European Services for Telematics between Administrations
(s-TESTA) network" was completed. As regards the quality, the
Commission has taken the utmost care to deliver a high quality service
to the Member States, who are the final end-users of the EURODAC Central
Unit. During 2008 the EURODAC Central Unit was available 99.84% of the
time. Only two "false hits", i.e. wrong identification
performed by the AFIS, were reported to the Commission in 2008, following the one notified in 2007.
However, with a total of three false hits reported out of more than 1.5
million searches and more than 300 000 hits the system can still be
considered extremely accurate.
- Data protection and data security:
the Commission welcomes the fact that the number of Member States using
special searches almost halved (8, compared to 15 of the previous year).However, as
discussed in previous annual reports as well as in the Evaluation
Report, the Commission is still concerned about the use of such searches
and considers its number still too high. To better monitor this
phenomenon, the Commission has included in its proposal for amendment of
the EURODAC Regulation a requirement for Member States to send a copy of
the data subject's request for access to the competent national
supervisory authority. In
consultation with the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), the
Commission is committed to taking steps against Member States which
persist in misusing this important data-protection related provision.
Figures and findings: the annex attached to the present annual report
contains tables with factual data produced by the Central Unit for the period
01.01.2008 – 31.12.2008. The EURODAC statistics are based on records of
fingerprints from all individuals aged 14 years or over who have made
applications for asylum in the Member States, who were apprehended when
crossing a Member State's external border irregularly, or who were found
illegally present on the territory of a Member State.
The main findings of this report are as follows:
- Successful transaction: is a transaction which has been correctly processed by the
Central Unit. In 2008, the Central Unit received a total of 357 421
successful transactions, which is an overall increase of 19.1% compared
to 2007 (300 018). Regarding the number of transactions of data of
asylum seekers ("category 1"), the increasing trend of 2007
continued in 2008: the EURODAC statistics reveal a 11.3% rise (to 219 557)
compared to 2007 (197 284). Such an increase reflects the general
rise in the number of asylum applications in the EU in 2008.After a
drop of 8% between 2006 and 2007, the number of transactions rose by
62.3% in 2008 (to 61 945). Italy
(32 052 compared to 15 053 in 2007), Greece (20 012 compared to 11 376 in 2007) and Spain (7 068, compared to 9 044 in 2007) introduce the vast majority of the
category 2 fingerprints, followed by Hungary (1 220), the United Kingdom
(344) and Bulgaria (307). In 2008, 7 Member States (the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Ireland, Iceland, Luxemburg, Norway and Portugal) did not send
any "category 2” transactions. The option of sending “category 3” transactions (data of
persons apprehended when illegally residing on the territory of a Member
State) experienced a significant rise in 2008. After the slight increase
between 2006 and 2007 (to 64 561) the number of transactions rose to 75 919 in 2008, meaning an increase of 17.6%.
- “Hits”: apart from the 'logical' routes
between neighbouring Member States, one can note that a high number of
asylum applicants in France and in Belgium previously lodged their
application in Poland, or that the highest amount of foreign hits in
Greece and in Italy were found against data of asylum applicants
previously recorded in the United Kingdom.
- Multiple asylum applications: from
a total of 219.557 asylum applications recorded in EURODAC in 2008,
38.445 applications were 'multiple asylum applications', which means that
in 38 445 cases, the fingerprints of the same person had already been recorded
as a "category 1" transaction (in the same or in another
Member State). The first reading of the statistics of the system would
therefore suggest that 17.5% of the asylum applications in 2008 were
subsequent (i.e. second or more) asylum applications, representing a
rise of 1.5% compared to the previous year. The practice of some Member
States to fingerprint upon take back under the Dublin Regulation results
in a distortion of the statistics on multiple applications: taking and
transmitting again the fingerprints of the applicant upon arrival after
a transfer under the Dublin Regulation falsely indicates that the
applicant applied again for asylum. The Commission intends to solve this
problem and, in its proposal for the amendment of the EURODAC
Regulation, has introduced the requirement that transfers should not be
registered as new asylum applications.
- “Category 1 against category 2” hits: these hits give an indication of routes taken by persons who
irregularly entered the territory of the European Union, before applying
for asylum. The majority of those who entered the EU illegally via
Greece and then travel further, head mainly to United Kingdom, Norway,
Italy and the Netherlands. Those entering via Italy proceed mainly
to the United Kingdom Norway, Switzerland and Sweden. Those who entered
via Spain most often leave for France and Italy, while those who entered
via Hungary travel on mainly to Austria.
- “Category 3 against category 1” hits: these hits give indications as to where illegal migrants first
applied for asylum before travelling to another Member State. The data
available suggest that, as during the previous year, persons apprehended
when illegally residing in Germany often had previously claimed asylum
in Sweden or in Austria, and that those apprehended when illegally
residing in France often had previously claimed asylum in the United
Kingdom or in Italy. As a recent development, asylum seekers who first
applied in Italy are found staying illegally in larger numbers in
Norway. It is worth noting that on average around 19.6% of the persons
found illegally on the territory had previously applied for asylum in a
Member State.
Delays and quality of transactions: the EURODAC
Regulation currently only provides a very vague deadline for the transmission
of fingerprints, which can cause significant delays in practice. This is a
crucial issue since a delay in transmission may lead to results contrary to
the responsibility principles laid down in the Dublin Regulation. In 2008,
the Central Unit detected 450 "missed hits", which is a 7.5 multiplication
of the figure of 2007. On the basis of the above results, the Commission
again urges the Member States to make all necessary efforts to send their data
as quickly as possible. In its proposal for the amendment of the EURODAC
Regulation, the Commission has proposed a deadline of 48 hours for
transmitting data to the EURODAC Central Unit.The average rate in 2008 of rejected
transactions for all Member States is 6.4%, which is almost the same as in
the previous years. The Commission urges Member States to provide specific
training of national EURODAC operators, as well as to configure correctly
their equipment in order to reduce this rejection rate.
Conclusions:
in 2008, the EURODAC Central Unit continued to
provide very satisfactory results in terms of speed, output, security and
cost-effectiveness. As a logical consequence of the overall increase in
asylum applications in the EU in 2008, the amount of 'category 1
transactions' introduced in EURODAC has also increased. The number of
'category 2 transactions' rose by 62.3%, while the number of 'category 3
transactions' increased by 17.6%. Concerns remain about the recently risen
excessive delay in the transmission of data to the EURODAC Central Unit.