Council framework Decision 2009/905/JHA of 30 November 2009 on Accreditation of forensic service providers carrying out laboratory activities

1 The purpose of this Framework Decision is to ensure that the results of laboratory activities carried out by accredited forensic service providers in one Member State are recognised by the authorities responsible for the prevention, detection and investigation of criminal offences as being equally reliable as the results of laboratory activities carried out by forensic service providers accredited to EN ISO/IEC 17025 within any other Member State.

2 This purpose is achieved by ensuring that forensic service providers carrying out laboratory activities are accredited by a national accreditation body as complying with EN ISO/IEC 17025.

This Framework Decision shall apply to laboratory activities resulting in: (a) DNA-profile; and (b) dactyloscopic data.

For the purposes of this Framework Decision: (a) ‘laboratory activity’ means any measure taken in a laboratory when locating and recovering traces on items, as well as developing, analysing and interpreting forensic evidence, with a view to providing expert opinions or exchanging forensic evidence; (b) ‘results of laboratory activities’ means any analytical outputs and directly associated interpretation; (c) ‘forensic service provider’ means any organisation, public or private, that carries out forensic laboratory activities at the request of competent law enforcement or judicial authorities; (d) ‘national accreditation body’ means the sole body in a Member State that performs accreditation with authority derived from the State as referred to in Regulation (EC) No 765/2008; (e) ‘DNA-profile’ means a letter or number code which represents a set of identification characteristics of the non-coding part of an analysed human DNA sample, i.e. the particular molecular structure at the various DNA locations (loci); (f) ‘dactyloscopic data’ means fingerprint images, images of fingerprint latents, palm prints, palm print latents and templates of such images (coded minutiae).

Member States shall ensure that their forensic service providers carrying out laboratory activities are accredited by a national accreditation body as complying with EN ISO/IEC 17025.

1 Each Member State shall ensure that the results of accredited forensic service providers carrying out laboratory activities in other Member States are recognised by its authorities responsible for the prevention, detection, and investigation of criminal offences as being equally reliable as the results of domestic forensic service providers carrying out laboratory activities accredited to EN ISO/IEC 17025.

2 This Framework Decision does not affect national rules on the judicial assessment of evidence.

1 Each Member State shall bear any public costs resulting from this Framework Decision in accordance with national arrangements.

2 The Commission shall examine the means to provide financial support from the general budget of the European Union for national and transnational projects intended to contribute to the implementation of this Framework Decision, inter alia for the exchange of experience, dissemination of know-how and proficiency testing.

1 Member States shall take the necessary steps to comply with the provisions of this Framework Decision in relation to DNA-profiles by 30 November 2013.

2 Member States shall take the necessary steps to comply with the provisions of this Framework Decision in relation to dactyloscopic data by 30 November 2015.

3 Member States shall forward to the General Secretariat of the Council and to the Commission the text of the provisions transposing into their national laws the obligations imposed on them under this Framework Decision by 30 May 2016 at the latest.

4 On the basis of the information referred to in paragraph 3 and other information provided by the Member States on request, the Commission shall, before 1 July 2018, submit a report to the Council on the implementation and application of this Framework Decision.

5 The Council shall, by the end of 2018, assess the extent to which Member States have complied with this Framework Decision.

This Framework Decision shall enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.