European Automated Fingerprint Identification System (Eurodac) is a computer system established under Council Regulation (EC) No 2725/2000 of 11 December 2000 concerning the establishment of Eurodac for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention (Eurodac Regulation).

The purpose of the system shall be to assist in determining which Member State is to be responsible pursuant to the Dublin Convention determining the state responsible for examining applications for asylum lodged in one of the Member States of the European Communities, signed on 15 June 1990 in Dublin, for examining an application for asylum lodged in a Member State, and otherwise to facilitate the application of this Convention. The Dublin Convention was replaced by the Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national.

Eurodac shall consist of:

• the central unit equipped with a computerised fingerprint recognition system established within the European Commission;
• computerised central database in which the data referred to in the Eurodac Regulation are processed for the purpose of comparing the fingerprint data of applicants for asylum and of aliens who are apprehended in connection with the irregular crossing of the external border and of aliens found illegally present within the Member State’s territory;
• means of data transmission between the Member States and the central database.