1. Each Member State shall communicate to any Member State that so requests personal data concerning a person covered by the scope of this Regulation that are adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purpose of:
(a) determining the Member State responsible;
(b) examining the application for international protection;
(c) implementing any other obligation arising under this Regulation;
(d) implementing a return decision.
2. The information referred to in paragraph 1 shall include only:
(a) the personal details of the person concerned, and, where appropriate, of his or her family members, relatives or any other family relations, namely full name and where appropriate, former names, nicknames or pseudonyms, current and former nationality, date and place of birth;
(b) information on identity and travel documents, including information on references, validity, date of issue, issuing authority and place of issue;
(c) any other information necessary for establishing the identity of the person concerned, including biometric data taken of the applicant by the Member State concerned, in particular for the purposes of Article 67(8) of this Regulation, in accordance with ;
(d) information on places of residence and routes travelled;
(e) information on residence documents or visas issued by a Member State;
(f) information on the place where the application was registered;
(g) information on the date on which any previous application for international protection was registered, the date on which the current application was registered, the stage reached in the proceedings and the decision taken, if any.
3. Provided that it is necessary for the examination of the application for international protection, the Member State responsible may request another Member State to inform it about the grounds on which the applicant bases his or her application and, where applicable, the grounds for any decisions taken concerning the applicant. Where the Member State responsible applies Article 55 of , that Member State may also request information enabling its competent authorities to establish whether new elements have arisen or have been presented by the applicant. The requested Member State may refuse to respond to the request, if the communication of such information is likely to harm its essential interests or the protection of the liberties and fundamental rights of the person concerned or of others. The applicant shall be informed by the requesting Member State in advance about the specific information requested and the reason for that request.
4. Any request for information shall be sent only in the context of an individual application for international protection or transfer for the purposes of relocation. That request shall set out the grounds on which it is based and, where its purpose is to check whether there is a criterion that is likely to entail the responsibility of the requested Member State, shall state on what evidence it is based, including relevant information from reliable sources on the ways and means by which applicants enter the territories of the Member States, or on what specific and verifiable part of the applicant’s statements it is based. Such relevant information from reliable sources shall not in itself be sufficient to determine the responsibility and the competence of a Member State under this Regulation, but it may contribute to the evaluation of other indications relating to an individual applicant..
5. The requested Member State shall be obliged to reply within three weeks. Any delays in the reply shall be duly justified. Failure to reply within three weeks shall not relieve the requested Member State of the obligation to reply. If that requested Member State withholds information which shows that it is responsible, that Member State may not invoke the expiry of the time limits provided for in Article 39 as a reason for refusing to comply with a request to take charge. In that case, the time limits provided for in Article 39 for submitting a request to take charge shall be extended by a period of time equivalent to the delay in the reply by the requested Member State.
6. The exchange of information shall be carried out at the request of a Member State and may only take place between authorities whose designation by each Member State has been communicated to the Commission in accordance with Article 52(1).
7. The information exchanged may be used only for the purposes set out in paragraph 1. In each Member State such information may, depending on its type and the powers of the recipient authority, only be communicated to the authorities and courts and tribunals entrusted with:
(a) determining the Member State responsible;
(b) examining the application for international protection;
(c) implementing any other obligation arising under this Regulation.
8. The Member State which forwards the information shall ensure that the information is accurate and up-to-date. If it transpires that the Member State has forwarded information which is inaccurate or which should not have been forwarded, the recipient Member States shall be informed thereof immediately. They shall be obliged to correct such information or to have it erased.
9. In each Member State concerned, a record shall be kept, in the individual file for the person concerned or in a register, of the transmission and receipt of information exchanged.
Correlation table
| Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 | This Regulation |
| Article 34 | Article 51 |