EU WILL SET UP COMMON INDEX OF CRIMINAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001511

SIPDIS

DHS FOR IAO, BORDER PATROL
DOJ FOR CRM
ROME ALSO FOR INS
STATE FOR INL/PC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PTER CMGT CVIS KCRM EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU WILL SET UP COMMON INDEX OF CRIMINAL
RECORDS FOR NON-EU CITIZENS

SUMMARY
--------------


1. EU Ministers for Justice, Freedom and Security
(or Justice and Home Affairs - JHA Council) on April
14 agreed to set up a common EU "index" to register
the criminal records of all non-EU citizens
convicted in the EU countries. For their own
nationals residing in the EU, Member States will
proceed on the basis of mutual exchanges and the
networking of national records. Ministers also
committed to establish a common, uniform EU
procedure aimed at enabling creditors to obtain a
"swift and efficient recovery of their debts" but
the system looks likely to be limited to cross-
border cases. The Council addressed the future
implementation of the "principle of availability" of
information to become effective among EU law
enforcement authorities. Immigration-related issues
discussed at the meeting will be reported SEPTEL.
END SUMMARY.

EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION FROM CRIMINAL RECORDS
--------------


2. The April 14 JHA Council held an orientation
debate on the exchange of information from criminal
records, with a view to establishing guidelines for
future work. Luxembourg Justice Minister Luc
Frieden told a press conference that the ministers
agreed to set up a "hybrid system" for EU and non-EU
nationals:

-- For EU nationals residing in the EU, Member
States will proceed on the basis of mutual
exchanges and the interconnection of national
records, with the understanding that each
Member State will have to record all the
convictions against its nationals pronounced by
EU countries (not a requirement at present).

-- For non-EU nationals, an EU index of
convictions will be established that will
highlight the Member State(s) involved in the
conviction. A significant proportion of
criminal convictions in the EU are against non-
EU nationals.


3. The Commission, which initially advocated the
setting up of an EU-wide index for all convictions
recorded within the EU, rallied to the above
Presidency proposal, described by Minister Frieden
as dictated by realism but allowing for significant
progress. Commission Vice-President Frattini
promised concrete proposals before the EU summer
break. He noted that each Member State would
register the convictions pronounced against its
citizens in the other countries on the basis of data
provided by the state where the conviction is
pronounced. The compromise thus ensured a high
level of harmonization, both for EU and non-EU
citizens, according to Frattini. French Justice
Minister Perben was equally satisfied, noting that
France, Germany, Belgium and Spain had already
started to network their criminal registers in a
pilot project. Perben said Poland had already
expressed an interest in joining the group of four.

EUROPEAN PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENT INJUNCTIONS
--------------


4. The ministers held an orientation debate on a
draft Regulation aimed at establishing a European
procedure for payment injunctions. Frieden said
this would enable creditors such as small-sized
companies to obtain a swift and efficient recovery
of their debts, thanks to the creation of "a simple,
fast, low-cost and standard procedure that will
settle small litigation" and called the Regulation
"an important component of the European judicial
area." Frieden and other EU officials said a great
majority of delegations wanted to limit the scope of
the proposal to cross-border cases, implying it
should not regulate payment injunctions within
Member States, as the Commission suggested (though
the Council's legal department reportedly concluded
there was no legal basis for applying the procedure
to domestic cases). The European Parliament will
have a say in further discussions as the draft is
subject to co-decision by the Council and the EP.

IMPLEMENTATION OF "PRINCIPLE OF AVAILABILITY"
--------------


5. The Hague program for strengthening freedom,
security and justice in the EU for the next five
years provides that the exchange of information
between law enforcement authorities should be based
on the "principle of availability" as of January 1,

2008. Under this principle, described by Frieden as
"a key concept for better judicial and police
cooperation in Europe," the available information
will have to be exchanged as quickly as possible
between judicial and police authorities within the
EU with the appropriate guarantees. Frieden said
the best path to follow for future implementation
was to first get ministers to agree on the types of
information to be shared as "the system for
implementing this principle may be different
according to the type of information." Frieden said
the Council identified six types of information:
DNA data, fingerprints, ballistic data, vehicle
registration, telephone numbers, and personal
identification data. The Council conclusions note
that the modalities for implementing the principle
would be determined on the basis of several options,
including a direct or indirect (via a central file)
access to national police databases.

FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
--------------


6. In a Resolution adopted without discussion, the
Council set the goals of a "comprehensive EU policy
against corruption," inviting the Member States that
have not done so yet to ratify and implement a
series of instruments, including two COE Conventions
as well as the UN Convention against Corruption. In
a declaration tabled during the preparatory work,
the Commission noted that the UN Convention against
Corruption partially falls under the exclusive
competence of the Community, and recalled that: "For
this reason Member States must not ratify the
Convention before the EC has done so, or has
explicitly authorized them to do so."

ROME CONVENTION ON CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS
--------------


7. On the fringes of the meeting, the ten new
Member States that joined the EU last year signed
the 1980 Rome Convention on the law applicable to
contractual obligations within the EU, as well as
the protocols on its interpretation by the EU Court
of Justice.

MCKINLEY