BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Wednesday (30 May) proposed to allow law enforcement authorities access to Eurodac, a biometric database of asylum seekers. Set up in 2003, the database is a repository of asylum seeker fingerprints and is used to speed up asylum procedures and prevent people from making simultaneous claims in multiple member states. Member state law enforcement authorities would be able to request the comparison of fingerprint data with those already stored in the Eurodac central database, but under strict conditions. Police would only be allowed access in specific cases should they require information on a person suspected of terrorism or some other serious crime.
