Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Framework Decision 2009/315/JHA, as regards the exchange of information on third-country nationals and as regards the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), and replac

On 17 April 2019, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a directive amending Council Framework Decision 2009/315/JHA, as regards the exchange of information on third-country nationals and as regards the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), and replacing Council Decision 2009/316/JHA /.

The European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) was established in April 2012 in order to improve the exchange of information on criminal records throughout the EU. All EU countries are currently connected to ECRIS.

This new directive aims to introduce the necessary modifications to Framework Decision 2009/315/JHA that will allow for an effective exchange of information on convictions of third-country nationals via ECRIS. It obliges Member States to take the necessary measures to ensure that convictions are accompanied by information on the nationality, or nationalities, of the convicted person, in so far as the Member States have such information at their disposal. It also introduces procedures for replying to requests for information, ensures that a criminal records extract requested by a third-country national is supplemented with information from other Member States, and provides for the technical changes necessary to make the information exchange system work.