US embassy cable - 05BRUSSELS1511

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001511 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DHS FOR IAO, BORDER PATROL 
DOJ FOR CRM 
ROME ALSO FOR INS 
STATE FOR INL/PC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PTER, CMGT, CVIS, KCRM, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT:  EU WILL SET UP COMMON INDEX OF CRIMINAL 
RECORDS FOR NON-EU CITIZENS 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.  EU Ministers for Justice, Freedom and Security 
(or Justice and Home Affairs - JHA Council) on April 
14 agreed to set up a common EU "index" to register 
the criminal records of all non-EU citizens 
convicted in the EU countries.  For their own 
nationals residing in the EU, Member States will 
proceed on the basis of mutual exchanges and the 
networking of national records.  Ministers also 
committed to establish a common, uniform EU 
procedure aimed at enabling creditors to obtain a 
"swift and efficient recovery of their debts" but 
the system looks likely to be limited to cross- 
border cases.  The Council addressed the future 
implementation of the "principle of availability" of 
information to become effective among EU law 
enforcement authorities.  Immigration-related issues 
discussed at the meeting will be reported SEPTEL. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION FROM CRIMINAL RECORDS 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
2.  The April 14 JHA Council held an orientation 
debate on the exchange of information from criminal 
records, with a view to establishing guidelines for 
future work.  Luxembourg Justice Minister Luc 
Frieden told a press conference that the ministers 
agreed to set up a "hybrid system" for EU and non-EU 
nationals: 
 
--   For EU nationals residing in the EU, Member 
     States will proceed on the basis of mutual 
     exchanges and the interconnection of national 
     records, with the understanding that each 
     Member State will have to record all the 
     convictions against its nationals pronounced by 
     EU countries (not a requirement at present). 
 
--   For non-EU nationals, an EU index of 
     convictions will be established that will 
     highlight the Member State(s) involved in the 
     conviction.  A significant proportion of 
     criminal convictions in the EU are against non- 
     EU nationals. 
 
3.  The Commission, which initially advocated the 
setting up of an EU-wide index for all convictions 
recorded within the EU, rallied to the above 
Presidency proposal, described by Minister Frieden 
as dictated by realism but allowing for significant 
progress.  Commission Vice-President Frattini 
promised concrete proposals before the EU summer 
break.  He noted that each Member State would 
register the convictions pronounced against its 
citizens in the other countries on the basis of data 
provided by the state where the conviction is 
pronounced.  The compromise thus ensured a high 
level of harmonization, both for EU and non-EU 
citizens, according to Frattini.  French Justice 
Minister Perben was equally satisfied, noting that 
France, Germany, Belgium and Spain had already 
started to network their criminal registers in a 
pilot project.  Perben said Poland had already 
expressed an interest in joining the group of four. 
 
EUROPEAN PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENT INJUNCTIONS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
4.  The ministers held an orientation debate on a 
draft Regulation aimed at establishing a European 
procedure for payment injunctions.  Frieden said 
this would enable creditors such as small-sized 
companies to obtain a swift and efficient recovery 
of their debts, thanks to the creation of "a simple, 
fast, low-cost and standard procedure that will 
settle small litigation" and called the Regulation 
"an important component of the European judicial 
area."  Frieden and other EU officials said a great 
majority of delegations wanted to limit the scope of 
the proposal to cross-border cases, implying it 
should not regulate payment injunctions within 
Member States, as the Commission suggested (though 
the Council's legal department reportedly concluded 
there was no legal basis for applying the procedure 
to domestic cases).  The European Parliament will 
have a say in further discussions as the draft is 
subject to co-decision by the Council and the EP. 
 
IMPLEMENTATION OF "PRINCIPLE OF AVAILABILITY" 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
5.  The Hague program for strengthening freedom, 
security and justice in the EU for the next five 
years provides that the exchange of information 
between law enforcement authorities should be based 
on the "principle of availability" as of January 1, 
2008.  Under this principle, described by Frieden as 
"a key concept for better judicial and police 
cooperation in Europe," the available information 
will have to be exchanged as quickly as possible 
between judicial and police authorities within the 
EU with the appropriate guarantees.  Frieden said 
the best path to follow for future implementation 
was to first get ministers to agree on the types of 
information to be shared as "the system for 
implementing this principle may be different 
according to the type of information."  Frieden said 
the Council identified six types of information: 
DNA data, fingerprints, ballistic data, vehicle 
registration, telephone numbers, and personal 
identification data.  The Council conclusions note 
that the modalities for implementing the principle 
would be determined on the basis of several options, 
including a direct or indirect (via a central file) 
access to national police databases. 
 
FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION 
------------------------ 
 
6.  In a Resolution adopted without discussion, the 
Council set the goals of a "comprehensive EU policy 
against corruption," inviting the Member States that 
have not done so yet to ratify and implement a 
series of instruments, including two COE Conventions 
as well as the UN Convention against Corruption.  In 
a declaration tabled during the preparatory work, 
the Commission noted that the UN Convention against 
Corruption partially falls under the exclusive 
competence of the Community, and recalled that: "For 
this reason Member States must not ratify the 
Convention before the EC has done so, or has 
explicitly authorized them to do so." 
 
ROME CONVENTION ON CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS 
------------------------------------------ 
 
7.  On the fringes of the meeting, the ten new 
Member States that joined the EU last year signed 
the 1980 Rome Convention on the law applicable to 
contractual obligations within the EU, as well as 
the protocols on its interpretation by the EU Court 
of Justice. 
 
MCKINLEY