EU-wide criminal information exchange becomes a reality

10.16.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 4th Jun 2008

Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP has welcomed a new proposal from the European Commission for a computerised European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) which will for the first time interconnect the national criminal records databases.

This will create a vital tool against cross-border crime by enabling a much more efficient exchange of data on criminal convictions between EU member states, so that past history can be taken into account for sentencing and, crucially, for job checks.

Sarah Ludford reacted:

"It's about time! This is just what the EU should concentrate on, the basic cooperation needed to ensure that criminals have no hiding place and cannot escape justice. If ministers did not waste energies on less valuable projects we might have had such a system long ago."

"Although the new scheme must be subject to strict data protection rules, it should also be used to monitor sex offenders and enable the police to better screen people who work with vulnerable groups like children."

"However the inclusion of exchange of information on convictions for illegal abortion and assisted suicide are controversial and problematic, while including 'insults, slander and defamation' threatens to be a distraction. The proposal needs to concentrate on priority crimes."

"And once set up, the system must be used by Member states, with no more 'boxes behind the filing cabinet' mentality as we have seen disgracefully in the UK Home Office."