On 5 April 2024, Regulation (EU) 2024/982 on the automated search and exchange of data for police cooperation, and amending Council Decisions 2008/615/JHA and 2008/616/JHA and Regulations (EU) 2018/1726, (EU) No 2019/817 and (EU) 2019/818, was published in the Official Journal of the EU. The so-called “Prüm II Regulation” builds upon the existing Prüm legislation that established a framework for searching and exchanging information between the competent authorities of the Member States. It lays down the conditions and procedures for automated searching of DNA profiles, dactyloscopic data, and certain vehicle registration data. As a novelty, the Prüm II Regulation contains two new data categories: facial images and police records (reference numbers of suspects and convicted criminals). It also lays down rules for the exchange of core data after a confirmed biometric data match. Upon claims by the European Parliament, the Regulation reiterates the importance of a human decision before information is released. In addition, a due diligence clause ensuring that data exchanges fully respect fundamental rights, and a proportionality check on exchanges is included.

Under the new Regulation, queries to search for missing persons or to identify human remains are possible in all data categories, provided that this is permitted under national law. Other innovations include the establishment of the European Police Records Index System (EPRIS) to allow for the automated exchange of police records. Furthermore, it adds Europol to the Prüm framework, allowing the agency to search national databases in order to cross-check information it has received from third countries.

The European Parliament gave its green light on 8 February 2024, and the Council on 26 February 2024. The Regulation was signed on 13 March 2024 and entered into force on 25 April 2024.

The "upgrade" of the Prüm framework was proposed by the Commission in December 2021 as part of the "EU Police Cooperation Code" (→ eucrim 4/2021, 225-226). Civil society organisations heavily criticised the new initiative putting forward doubts about the necessity and proportionality of the measures and voicing concerns over serious fundamental rights risks (→ eucrim 3/2022, 194 and eucrim 3/2023, 263).