EC Proposes to Boost Sharing of Non-EU Citizens' Criminal Records

The European Commission proposed on Tuesday to make it easier to share criminal records of non-EU citizens in the EU as part of efforts to boost cooperation between national authorities in the fight against terrorism and other forms of serious cross-border crime.

The proposal calls for using to the full the potential of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) which is already being used widely for exchange of criminal records of EU citizens, the EU executive body said in a statement.

Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova commented that the terror attacks in Paris in November 2015 had “confirmed the urgent need for more robust and seamless judicial cooperation throughout the EU.”

“ECRIS is an important tool against cross-border crime, as it enables Member States to exchange information on previous convictions anywhere in the EU. Today we propose to upgrade this tool to ensure easier access to the convictions of non-EU citizens,” Jourova said in the statement.

Member States currently send through ECRIS around 288,000 requests per year on previous criminal convictions across the EU.

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