The Parliament adopted its opinion drafted by Mr. Hubert PIRKER (EPP, D) approving the Commission's proposal subject to a number of proposals. The following were the main amendments adopted:
- only applicants for asylum of over 18 years old would be finger-printed, as opposed to over 14 years old in the Commission's proposal;
- should the results of a fingerprint comparison made by the Central Unit not reveal a clear match of the fingerprints, the Member State which asked for the comparison shall be considered the Member State of origin and shall initiate the asylum procedure;
- once someone has been granted refugee status or a subsidiary or complementary form of protection or any other legal status, his or her data will be erased from the EURODACE central database;
- the term 'alien' has been changed to 'third country national' throughout the text;
- no data shall be transferred or made accessible to the authorities of any third country, nor to any agency or authority in a Member State other than that which collects the original data except with the express written agreement of the joint supervisory authorities.�