The committee adopted a report by Mr Hubert PIRKER (EPP/ED, A) approving the
Commission proposal for a Council regulation on 'Eurodac' subject to a
number of amendments. One of these was aimed at ensuring that asylum seekers
under the age of 18 years would not have their fingerprints taken (the draft
regulation had set an age limit of 14 years, but the committee raised this
to 18 years). Another amendment added the provision that as soon as someone
has been granted refugee status, a subsidiary form of protection or other
legal status his or her data are to be erased from Eurodac. Of the other
amendments adopted by the committee, one changed the word "alien" into
"third country national" and another was designed to prevent the data from
being transferred to other public agencies, such as social security
agencies.