Home | Observatories Index STATEWATCH OBSERVATORY IT Systems and Information Exchange for Police and Judicial Cooperation in the European Union Index European Criminal Records Information System European Police Records Index System Information Exchange Platform for Law Enforcement Authorities Last updated 27/02/2013: News articles added and documents from October 2012 added The European Police Records Index System (EPRIS) was a proposal discussed primarily before the Council's Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection (DAPIX). A Commission communication of 7 December 2012 put a stop to the project, saying that: "Creation of an EPRIS is currently not justified given that existing instruments and tools, which could serve this purpose partly or fully through better or intensified use, are not fully used. This concerns in particular the Europol Information System (uploading relevant data and extending access at national level), SIS II (increasing use of relevant alerts on persons or vehicles for checks for the purposes of prosecuting criminal offences and preventing threats to public security), SIENA (further developing access at national level, interlinking with national systems and automating tasks where appropriate), and Prüm (full implementation to improve identification of criminals acting in different Member States)." Europol and the Law Enforcement Working Party (LEWP) were also involved with the development of the system. Had it been developed and implemented, the EPRIS would provided law enforcement authorities from one Member State with the ability to search the police files held in another EU Member State, on a "hit/no-hit" basis. The intention was to provide police forces across the EU with the ability to see whether a police force in another Member State holds information (whether hard information or "intelligence") on a particular individual. Subsequent requests for access to personal data would have been made formally, following a succesful "hit", for example through the use of the Swedish Framework Decision request forms. The potential for the development of an EU-wide police database was noted by some Member States during the development process. Just before the Commission called a halt to the project, the French and Finnish delegations within DAPIX suggested allowing the automation of some processes. See: Member States and Europol seek to ease EU-wide access to police databases through "automation of the data exchange process" News & Analysis 25/02/2013 Statewatch News Online: Member States and Europol seek to ease EU-wide access to police databases through "automation of the data exchange process" A project proposed by France that seeks to automate the searching of national police databases has survived the Commission's December call for a halt to new police databases and computer networks at EU level. Europol and a number of other Member States have also expressed an interest in the project, 'Automation of the Data Exchange Process' (ADEP), which does "not intend to create new legislation but to enhance information exchange by automation of current manual procedures. 18/12/2012 Statewatch News Online: Commission rules out new law enforcement databases - but seeks more data for Europol A communication from the European Commission published last Saturday states that the exchange of information amongst Europe's law enforcement agencies "generally works well" and that "no new EU-level law enforcement databases or information exchange instruments are therefore needed at this stage," providing some relief to critics of what seemed to be an almost-endless expansion of European law enforcement database and computer networking projects. 03/09/2011 Bürgerrechtler: Datenschutz kommt bei EU-Strafverfolgung unter die Räder A German news article discussing the findings of the Statewatch Analysis Implementing the "principle of availability". 03/09/2011 Statewatch Analysis: Implementing the "principle of availablity": the European Criminal Records Information System, the European Police Records Index System, the Information Exchange Platform for Law Enforcement Authorities An analysis of the development and functioning of the ECRIS, as well as an examination of the development of the EPRIS and IXP. 08/06/2011 Statewatch News Online: Member State concerns arise over the development of the European Police Records Index System However the final system is intended to work, the EPRIS will - like many other systems in place and under development - contribute to "state-building" in the EU by incorporating yet more automated access to law enforcement agencies data (information and intelligence). Documents 19/10/2012 Meeting of the Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection (DAPIX) Mixed Committee (EU - Iceland/Liechtenstein/Norway/Switzerland): Summary of discussions (15143/12) 15/10/2012 NOTE from: French and Finnish delegation: IMS Action List No 3 - EPRIS / ADEP: Automation of the data exchange process (14944/12) 08/10/2012 Study on possible ways to enhance efficiency in the exchange of police records between the Member States by setting up a European Police Records Index System The study contracted by the Commission and carried out by Unisys that recommended against building the EPRIS. 02/10/2012 NOTE from: Europol to: Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Target information management architecture (IMS Action 10) - Draft vision on EU law enforcement information exchange (14157/12) 25/06/2012 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (11782/12) Commission update to delegations on feasibility study (page 4). 25/04/2012 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (8390/12) 07/02/2012 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (6097/12) See page 7 - "The Commission outlined the state of play on the study on how to improve efficiency in the exchange of police records... One delegation reminded the Commission that the EPRIS idea was to get a simple, operational and cheap system" 27/05/2011 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (10606/11) See page 6 - "Other delegations were critical about details of the study concept since they were afraid that a police data base might be set up instead of an record index" 06/05/2011 Working Group on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Summary of discussions (9302/11) See item 5, page 7. 14/04/2011 Note from: Europol, to: Working Party on Information Exchange and Data Protection: Implementation of EUROPOL led action points related to the IMS action list - Progress report (9074/11) See item 5, page 4. 08/04/2011 European Commission: Call for tender: Study on possible ways to enhance efficiency in the exchange of police records between the Member States by setting up a European Police Records Index System (EPRIS) 31/03/2011 Note from: Presidency, to: Delegations: Outcome of the Infopolex Conference held in Budapest on 28 February - 1 March 2011 (8339/11) Opinions differed on the feasibility of the standardisation of the international information exchange. Handbooks, guidelines and standardised message formats were considered the most useful instruments in this respect, but the role of EU regulations was also mentioned. The exchange of good practices, better communication between the different levels of the competent units, establishment of a common EU police file register (EPRIS – European Police Records Index System) and standardisation of the technical infrastructure were also mentioned. The majority of the MSs expressed a view that the standardisation and direct access to the national and international databases could reduce response times." (p.3) 27/01/2011 Summary of discussions (5760/11) Item 3, page 2 - "the Commission was invited to consider extending its EPRIS feasibility study to a detailed assessment of possible registration and rapid information exchange on stolen objects." 20/07/2010 Law Enforcement Working Party: Summary of discussions (12347/10) See item 6, page 3. 02/07/2010 Ad Hoc Working Group on Information Exchange: Summary of proceedings (11536/10) See item 6, page 6. 01/07/2010 Police Cooperation Working Party: Summary of discussions (11486/10) See item 6, page 6. 21/12/2009 Note from: Presidency, to: Ad Hoc Working Group on Information Exchange: Subject: European Police Records Index System - elements for a pre-study (15526/2/09) 17/10/2008 Ad Hoc Working Group on Information Exchange: Summary of discussions (14075/08) Item 4 on page 3 notes the proposal for a system to exchange police records. Home | Observatories Index © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. 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