Europe agrees to biometric ‘database’ of 350 million people
The European Union will make it easier to exchange biometric and identity data between customs, police and migration services. A new European system will lead to one searchable ‘database’ where all that data can be retrieved.
Last week, the European Parliament voted by 512 votes to 123 for a common identity repository, or cir. This is a system that makes it possible to search simultaneously in different databases, which are currently spread between different systems and authorities. The cir makes it easier for such bodies to look into each other’s databases and compare their own data with them. The data itself is not migrated to one general database, although the cir is now well known.
Various existing systems such as the Schengen Information System, Eurodac and the Visa Information System come together in the cir. Three new systems will also be added: ECRIS-TCN, to store criminal records of foreign travelers, the Entry/Exit System, which registers non-EU residents crossing an EU border, and ETIAS, which stores non-EU nationals. travelers without a visa. Not all services can access every database. Europol can, for example, but customs officers are only allowed to access the Schengen Information System and not to other databases.
The system can be used to look up the data of a total of more than 350 million people. This concerns residents of both the EU and beyond. These are, for example, citizens traveling to and from the Schengen countries. In addition to standard information, such as names, dates of birth and passport numbers, biometric data can also be looked up in the database. That could be fingerprints or facial scans collected in previous systems. Fingerprints of asylum seekers are also collected in it.
The database has been under fire from privacy activists for years. They think he infringes too much on the lives of citizens. Many MEPs are also not happy with the ‘monster database’, they tell Politico. Another concern of opponents is that the new system is counterproductive; investigative services would already die in large amounts of data.
It will take some time before the databases are compatible with each other. The development process is expected to be completed in 2023. The system is expected to cost 155 million euros to become operational. According to the EU, an additional EUR 425 million will be added over the next nine years.