Ethical challenges of merging criminal identification and civil identification within the Prüm system

The so-called Prüm system made mandatory for all EU Member States to join the pan-European network for the exchange of fingerprints, DNA profiles and motor vehicle information for stepping up on cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime. Taking into consideration the number of DNA profiles archived in the national databases of the operational countries, more than 13 million DNA profiles can potentially be exchanged. Plans for “next-generation Prüm” that may soon be introduced aim to exchange additional forensic modalities, namely facial recognition data (FRD). This commentary highlights the ethical and social problems of merging DNA profiles of convicted persons, suspects and crime stains (targeting criminal identification) with DNA profiles from missing persons, relatives of missing persons, unidentified persons and unidentified human remains (oriented to civil identification). In a complementary manner, we also discuss the problematic amendments of the so-called “next-generation Prüm” that may soon be introduced that includes plans to exchange additional forensic modalities, namely facial recognition data (FRD).