Press Release: Eurodac: how to better ensure asylum seekers’ rights in practice? Supervision Group issues second inspection report

On 1 July, 2009, the Eurodac Supervision Coordination Group issued a report on their second coordinated inspection of the large-scale database that contains fingerprints of asylum seekers in order to assist asylum procedures in the European Union. The Supervision Group, which is composed of data protection authorities of each of the participating States and the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), investigated how the database has been used in practice over the last two years. Two main issues were scrutinised: the right of information of asylum seekers and the methods for assessing the age of young asylum seekers in view of their registration in the system. The report presented both the findings and the recommendations based on the replies to the questionnaire received from all the Member States. The Group hopes that the report will usefully contribute to the ongoing revision of the Eurodac and Dublin Regulations.