Poland is introducing legislation to comply with a new EU regulation, expanding the Eurodac database to include biometric data from children as young as six years old.
Expanding EU Database
The Eurodac system, which has collected biometric data of asylum seekers and irregular migrants since 2000, is operated under EU Regulation No. 603/2013. Initially designed to help identify the EU member state responsible for examining asylum applications, its use has progressively expanded. Under the 2013 regulation, security agencies of member states gained access to prevent terrorist or other serious crimes, provided they first checked data in their national databases and fingerprint identification systems of all other member states.
Effective July 12, further changes will be implemented under the new Regulation 2024/1358.
New Polish Legislation
In preparation for these changes, a draft law on Poland’s participation in the Eurodac system, prepared by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration, has been submitted to the government’s legislative work list. Its adoption is planned for the second quarter of this year. The ministry determined that due to the expanded objectives of the system, scattered national regulations regarding Polish authorities’ participation should be replaced by a comprehensive law.
Data Collection Scope
The regulations are intended to provide a “standalone legal basis” for collecting biometric data from persons specified in EU regulations: those seeking international protection, persons illegally staying in the EU, persons registered for reception procedures within EU resettlement or humanitarian admission systems, and third-country stateless persons brought to EU territory after search and rescue operations.
Enforcement Measures
To ensure biometric data is provided, administrative measures have been established in the form of the possibility of imposing an administrative monetary penalty. The draft law also allows the use of direct coercive measures by officials authorized to collect data if necessary, implementing Article 13(3) of the regulation, which permits such measures “as a last resort.”
The draft law also stipulates that the Commander-in-Chief of the Police will be responsible for ensuring the operation of the NAP Eurodac, a designated organizational unit within the structure of the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Police.
Lowering Age Threshold
NGOs are criticizing the new EU regulation, pointing out that the rules further blur the line between migration management and crime prevention systems. The criticism concerns what they see as an unjustified continuous expansion of the system, which contains increasingly more data about an increasing number of persons, accessible to an increasing number of entities.
Data to be included in Eurodac under the new regulation includes fingerprints, names, basic personal information (citizenship, date and place of birth, country of origin, gender), as well as images and photos of identity documents or other travel documents.
Previously, data from minors who had completed at least 14 years of age was included in the database. Now, this threshold will be lowered to six years. As a safeguard, the regulation specifies that during biometric data collection, each minor must be accompanied by an adult family member, or if none is available, another representative or a person trained in protecting the child’s best interests and overall well-being.