| Author (Person) | Cronin, David |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.12, No.10, 16.3.06 |
| Publication Date | 16/03/2006 |
| Content Type | News |
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By David Cronin Date: 16/03/06 EU ambassadors are set to approve a plan for exchanging DNA between the police and judicial authorities of the Union's member states. A Council of Ministers paper, to be rubber-stamped by ambassadors today (16 March), recommends that there should be "direct automated access" of a national contact point in one EU country to a DNA database held by another. The exchange of DNA for use in criminal investigations would be based, it says, on the "principle of availability". Under this system, police forces of EU countries would be obliged to respond favourably to requests for information from their counterparts in other member states. A working group on information exchange in criminal investigations is to be set up, comprising representatives of the justice and interior ministries from EU governments. The group is to given a June deadline for completing its initial report on the logistics of sharing DNA. In the longer term, the group would examine the transfer of other types of data between member state authorities, such as fingerprints and car registration details. The blueprint has been drafted following a proposal on sharing data for use in criminal investigations published by the European Commission in October. The EU executive said that the growing number of criminal gangs operating across national borders "makes co-operation between law enforcement authorities in the countries concerned, and especially through information exchange, the most important tool to fight organised crime". The rules on DNA storage vary between member states. The UK has the largest DNA database in the world. Formed in 1995, it contains the DNA profiles of more than 2.5 million people. While UK law allows police to take and keep DNA samples from all individuals arrested on suspicion of a recordable offence, police in France have no powers to take the DNA of suspects without their consent. Robin Williams from the University of Durham, the author of a study on DNA collection in Europe, said that the UK's system had proven useful primarily in relation to "property crimes" such as burglaries or car thefts. But Gus Hosein from Privacy International said that since there were no provisions for deleting DNA records of people arrested in the UK who are proven not guilty in court, an exchange of DNA across the EU, could lead to "a database of people who have done nothing wrong". "This would be an anti-European practice, given Europe's tradition of civil liberties," he said. Joaqu’n Bayo Delgado, the deputy EU data protection supervisor, agreed that the exchange of DNA on individuals who were never convicted could prove problematic. |
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| Source Link | http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs, Values and Beliefs |
| Countries / Regions | Europe |
