(1)

One of the Union’s objectives is to provide citizens with a high level of safety within an area of freedom, security and justice. Closer cooperation between Member States’ competent law enforcement authorities is essential for the achievement of that objective.

(2)

The protection of the Union against threats posed by international and organised crime, including terrorism, requires that common action includes the exchange of information between Member States’ law enforcement authorities competent in criminal matters, as well as with international partners.

(3)

Issued and blank stolen, lost or misappropriated passports are used to elude law enforcement with the object of carrying out illicit activities capable of jeopardising the security of the Union and of each one of the Member States. Meaningful action can only be taken at Union level by reason of the very nature of the threat. Action by the Member States individually could not achieve the abovementioned objective. This Common Position does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve that objective.

(4)

All Member States are affiliated to the International Criminal Police Organisation — Interpol. To fulfil its mission, Interpol receives, stores, and circulates data to assist competent law enforcement authorities to prevent and combat international crime. The Interpol database on Stolen Travel Documents permits Interpol’s members to share between themselves the data on lost and stolen passports.

(5)

The European Council of 25 March 2004, in its Declaration on combating terrorism, instructed the Council to take forward work on the creation by end 2005 of an integrated system for the exchange of information on stolen and lost passports having recourse to the Schengen Information System (SIS) and the Interpol database. This Common Position is a first response to that request that should be followed-up by the setting up of the technical functionality in the SIS to achieve that aim.

(6)

The exchange of Member States’ data on stolen, lost or misappropriated passports with the Interpol database on Stolen Travel Documents as well as the processing of these data, should respect applicable data protection rules both of the individual Member States and of Interpol.

(7)

This Common Position obliges Member States to ensure that their competent authorities will exchange the aforementioned data with the Interpol database on Stolen Travel Documents, in parallel to entering them in the relevant national database, and the SIS, as regards the Member States participating in it. The obligation arises from the moment the national authorities become aware of the theft, loss or misappropriation. A further requirement to set up the necessary infrastructure to facilitate the consultation of the Interpol database acknowledges the law enforcement relevance of the latter.

(8)

The conditions of the exchange shall be agreed with Interpol in order to ensure that the data exchanged will respect the data protection principles that lie at the heart of data exchange within the Union, in particular with regard to the exchange and automatic processing of such data.

(9)

This Common Position respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised in particular by Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union and reflected in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

1.

‘Passport data’ shall mean data on issued and blank passports that are stolen, lost or misappropriated and formatted for integration in a specific information system. Passport data that will be exchanged with the Interpol database shall consist only of the passport number, country of issuance and the document type.

2.

‘Interpol database’ shall mean the Automatic Search Facility — Stolen Travel Document database managed by the International Criminal Police Organisation — Interpol.

3.

‘Relevant national database’ shall mean the police or judicial database or databases in a Member State that contain data on issued and blank passports that are stolen, lost or misappropriated.