1. Member States shall ensure the availability of dactyloscopic reference data from their national databases established for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences.
2. Dactyloscopic reference data shall not contain any additional data from which an individual can be directly identified.
3. Unidentified dactyloscopic data shall be recognisable as such.
1. For the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences, Member States shall allow national contact points of other Member States and Europol access to the dactyloscopic reference data in their national databases established for that purpose to conduct automated searches by comparing dactyloscopic reference data.
Searches as referred to in the first subparagraph shall only be conducted in the framework of individual cases and in compliance with the national law of the requesting Member State.
2. The national contact point of the requesting Member State may decide to confirm a match between two sets of dactyloscopic data. Where it decides to confirm a match between two sets of dactyloscopic data, it shall inform the requested Member State and shall ensure that at least one qualified member of staff conducts a manual review in order to confirm that match with dactyloscopic reference data received from the requested Member State.
The reference numbers for dactyloscopic data shall be the combination of the following:
(a)
a reference number allowing Member States, in the event of a match, to retrieve further data and other information in their databases referred to in Article 10 in order to supply them or it to one, several or all of the other Member States in accordance with Article 47 or to Europol in accordance with Article 49(6);
(b)
a reference number allowing Europol, in the event of a match, to retrieve further data and other information for the purposes of Article 48(1) of this Regulation in order to supply them or it to one, several or all Member States in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/794;
(c)
a code to indicate the Member State which holds the dactyloscopic data.
1. Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of dactyloscopic data sent to other Member States or Europol, including their encryption. Europol shall take appropriate measures to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of dactyloscopic data sent to Member States, including their encryption.
2. Each Member State and Europol shall ensure that the dactyloscopic data it transmits are of sufficient quality for automated comparison. The Commission shall establish, by means of implementing acts, a minimum quality standard to allow for the comparison of dactyloscopic data.
3. Dactyloscopic data shall be digitalised and transmitted to the other Member States or Europol in accordance with European or international standards. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts specifying the relevant European or international standards to be used by Member States and Europol for the exchange of dactyloscopic data.
4. The implementing acts referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 77(2).
1. Each Member State shall ensure that its search requests do not exceed the search capacities specified by the requested Member State or Europol to ensure system readiness and to avoid overloading the system. For the same purpose, Europol shall ensure that its search requests do not exceed the search capacities specified by the requested Member State.
Member States shall inform the other Member States, the Commission, eu-LISA and Europol about their maximum search capacities per day for identified and unidentified dactyloscopic data. Europol shall inform Member States, the Commission and eu-LISA about its maximum search capacities per day for identified and unidentified dactyloscopic data. Member States or Europol may temporarily or permanently raise those search capacities at any time, including in a case of urgency. Where a Member State raises those maximum search capacities, it shall notify the other Member States, the Commission, eu-LISA and Europol of the new maximum search capacities. Where Europol raises those maximum search capacities, it shall notify the Member States, the Commission and eu-LISA of the new maximum search capacities.
2. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts specifying the maximum numbers of candidates accepted for comparison per transmission and the distribution of unused search capacities between Member States in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 77(2).
Rules for requests and replies regarding dactyloscopic data
1. A request for an automated search of dactyloscopic data shall include only the following information:
(a)
the code of the requesting Member State;
(b)
the date and time of the request and the request number;
(c)
dactyloscopic reference data.
2. A reply to a request as referred to in paragraph 1 shall contain only the following information:
(a)
an indication as to whether there were one or more matches or no matches;
(b)
the date and time of the request and the request number;
(c)
the date and time of the reply and the reply number;
(d)
the codes of the requesting and requested Member States;
(e)
the reference numbers of the dactyloscopic data from the requesting and requested Member States;
(f)
the matching dactyloscopic data.
3. Member States shall ensure that requests as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article are consistent with notifications sent pursuant to Article 74. Those notifications shall be reproduced in the practical handbook referred to in Article 79.