DNA Data Sharing

The aim of the agreement, sealed by EU interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg, is "to introduce procedures for promoting fast, efficient and inexpensive means of data exchange."

Police from the 27 EU countries, attempting to identify a suspect using hair, sperm or fingernail samples, will be able to compare it with DNA information gathered for criminal investigations in other EU states.

Aside from biometric data, police will also be able to share vehicle registration information when conducting such investigations.

The agreement also allows police from different EU states to conduct joint, cross-border operations.

"This is an important day," German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of the month, told reporters. "This provides us with an important source of information."

EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini told a news conference: "This will make the EU a safer area."

Some countries already using system

The scheme extends most of the Treaty of Prüm -- a police cooperation deal signed in May 2005 by Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Spain -- to all 27 EU nations.

The push for stronger EU wide security came from Germany, which is a co-author of the Prüm Treaty.

The seven "Prüm" agreement countries were already sharing information from their national databases, with the other 20 countries to join the network soon, Schäuble said.

"Serious crime, serious threats to the men and women of the European Union can only be combated by effective cooperation and effective exchange of data and information," Schäuble told reporters.

Schäuble said Austria had reported "sensational breakthroughs" since it began using the system, reporting more than a thousand data matches in one six-week period.

To protect privacy, a "hit/no hit" system will be introduced under which police will only be immediately told whether a DNA sample, for example, they are studying matches one held in the database of another EU country. They will then have to request further information about the matching data.

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini described the move as "a very important first step" which demonstrates how a well thought-out agreement between a few countries can quickly be introduced EU-wide.

Cannot take action

Police will not be able to take action in another EU country after entering in "hot pursuit" of suspects under a demand by Britain and Ireland linked to problems in Northern Ireland, diplomats have said.

Police officers will have to ask permission to conduct cross-border searches.

But they will be able to be deployed for major sporting and other events wearing their national uniforms and carrying weapons; an arrangement used to good effect by Germany when it hosted last year's soccer World Cup.

British Home Office minister Joan Ryan also welcomed the agreement.

"Criminals do not respect borders," she told the EU ministers. "It is therefore vitally important that our law enforcement authorities have the tools available to obtain information held by other EU countries as quickly as possible to help with the investigation and prevention of crime."

"Dizzying"

However, some members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are critical of the measures, saying it was discussed at "dizzying speed."

"The entire process is a complete scandal," British liberal Sarah Ludford told the EU-Observer.

UK conservative MEP Syed Kamall said: "The Prüm Treaty has been a dangerous pet project of the German presidency."

"In forcing it through, the Germans have ignored the views of the European Parliament and the concerns of the EU data protection chief," he said, adding that "we are sleepwalking into a Big Brother Europe while our government stands idly by."

Some MEPs have urged EU leaders to strengthen the confidentiality of personal data under the new deal.