On April 16, 2019, the European Parliament informed that it decided to create the Common Identity Repository (CIR). The CIR will interconnect a series of data systems (listed below) into a gigantic biometric database containing data about EU and non-EU citizens to improve data exchange between EU information systems to manage borders, security and migration.
After the formal approval of the Council, member states will have two years to adopt the new rules.
The main elements of the new legislation are:
- European search portal allowing simultaneous searches on several systems, which include the Schengen Information System, Eurodac, the Visa Information System (VIS) and three new systems: the European Criminal Records System for Third Country Nationals (ECRIS-TCN), the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS);
- Shared biometric matching service for cross-matching fingerprints and facial images from the different systems;
- Common identity repository providing biographical information such as dates of birth and passport numbers;
- Multiple identity detector, detecting whether a person is registered under multiple identities in different databases.
More information on the EU Interoperability framework for border management systems is available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu…
For more information contact Francesca Giannoni-Crystal. Thanks to Federica Romanelli
Originally published on Technethics on May 2019