The following arrangements are in place between the UK and each EU member state:
An EU Council Decision (CD) on the exchange of information extracted from the criminal record (2005/876/JHA) was adopted on 21 November 2005. This CD allows member states to exchange information as follows:
‘Own Initiative notifications’—Where a national of another member state is convicted, the convicting member state must inform the member state of nationality without delay of that conviction.
‘Requests for information’—Requests may be made for information held on the criminal record of another member state in the following circumstances;
(a) For use in criminal proceedings
(b) From a judicial authority outside the context of criminal proceedings
(c) A request made by the person concerned
Responses must be made within 10 working days (extensions are allowed where information is required to clarify the identification of the person concerned).
Requests, responses and the use of data given in response can only be made in accordance with national laws of the states concerned.
The UK Central Authority required to carry out these functions was established in May 2006. A Framework Decision (FD) is currently under negotiation which also aims to introduce a common format and an electronic mechanism to facilitate the exchange of information.
The CD allows the UK to make requests for information for employment vetting. The CRB is undertaking a feasibility study into how many other member states are willing and/or able to share data with the UK for that purpose. The CRB is writing to other member states to establish this information.
The CD and FD deal only with criminal conviction information. There are no plans at present to exchange non-conviction information between EU member states. It is prudent to establish the principle of exchanging conviction data with other member states before exploring the issue of exchanging non-conviction and ‘soft’ intelligence, and while bilateral discussions with other countries are at an early stage there are some positive indications on which we hope to build.
Under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, criminal records information obtained by the CRB will be passed to the new Independent Barring Board in cases where a discretionary decision is required. It may also be possible for the board to request information from other EU member states in accordance with the CD and FD.