If you commit a crime in the EU all countries in Europe will know

Anyone thinking of committing a criminal act or fleeing one EU country to another will now no longer escape the reach of the law. The same goes for anyone failing to appear before a court or not paying a traffic fine.

The new law applies not only to EU citizens, but also citizens of non- EU countries who commit a crime or break a law in any EU member state.

These new changes to EU law mean that judges, prosecutors and other relevant authorities will now have all the information needed on criminal acts in the European Union, including access to personal details and biometric data such as fingerprints and facial images.

Pàl Csàky MEP and member of the EPP group said when asked about the new law: “A lot of sentences given in courts in the EU’s member states usually depend on information that judges and magistrates have on the offenders. The introduction of ECRIS was an important first step in making data on previous convictions available to such authorities. Now, we are taking the next step in extending this information system to third-country nationals. This way, the criminal information database will be used to its full potential”.

Csàky went on to say: “The updated ECRIS will not only improve judicial cooperation between member states, and thus crime prosecution in the EU, it will also decrease costs and administrative burdens for member states, as they would not need to send requests for data to all the other member states.”