The Meijers Committee publishes Note on the EURODAC proposal (COM(2012) 254)

The Meijers Committee published on 10 October 2012 a note on the amended proposal for a Regulation on the establishment of Eurodac. The new draft provides for the possibility to request comparison with Eurodac data by Member States law enforcement authorities and Europol. This was also proposed in 2009 but lapsed as a consequence of the Treaty of Lisbon. In this note, the Meijers Committee strongly opposes this access to law enforcement authorities, because it breaches fundamental rights of asylum seekers, including their right to privacy and data protection, the right to asylum and protection against torture and inhuman treatment. Furthermore, the Meijers Committee underlines that the extended use of Eurodac data involves the risk of stigmatisation of a particular group of persons, namely asylum seekers. For this reason, the Meijers Committee advises the members of the European Parliament to vote against this proposal.

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