Impact

EUCARIS has got both social and financial benefits.

First of all EUCARIS n to the prevention, detection and prosecution of violations of law. In 2008 4.7 million cars were checked before re-registration in another country. **** inquiries let to a "hit", because the car turned out to be stolen, should have been scrapped, etc. EUCARIS thus helps to contribute to a safer society.

Also, ***** trafic fines were exchanged between The Netherlands and Germany alone. Since speeding is a severe threat to road safety, EUCARIS also helps making our roads safer by prosecuting foreign offenders on our motorways.

The system also plays a part in keeping the national vehicle and driving licence records accurate and up-to-date. The quick exchange of data increases the efficiency, efficacy and accuracy of administrative procedures and the registers. The strength of EUCARIS lies in the quick, interactive, exchange of data; this is crucial in the fight against car theft, registration and document fraud. The decentral registers show the original details; where documents can be forged, the register cannot. Direct access to the registers of participant countries ensures that up-to-date information is obtained.

Last but not least, EUCARIS also brings financial benefits to governements. Because one single network with national contact points is used, no new systems and networks have to be developped and no new hardware has to be bought. The complete management and development of EUCARIS costs to more than 375.000 euro per year. These costs are shared by already 21 countries, making EUCARIS a cheap system that doesn't waste any tax money.

Track record of sharing

EUCARIS is mostly used by registration and police authorities. With the integration of the international data exchange of the EU Council Decisions 2008/JHA615 and 616 into EUCARIS, the system will be even more consulted by police authorities. EUCARIS offers the possibility to extend the system so it can support other Treaties or international agreements. All types of data can be exchanged through EUCARIS: traffic fines, parking tickets, extensive driving licence information, etc. EUCARIS offers the possibility to transfer complete files with information between countries. This prevents cd’s with private information getting lost in mail. File transfers open new possibilities for information exchange between member states. At this moment traffic fine information is being exchanged amongst a few countries. Future options are the exchange of information related to tolls, congestion charge, etc. All the costs for management and R&D expenditures are paid for by all member states. Therefore the yearly costs per member state remain low and keep EUCARIS an attractive way for exchanging information.

Lessons learnt

Lesson 1 - Having a system that does not include a central register, but is based on a decentralised cooperation between national registration authorities that remain the holder of all data. This makes the project politically much more feasible and easier to reach results.

Lesson 2- Fast implementation of new functionalities (like the integration of the Prüm Treaty / EU Council Decisions into EUCARIS). This is made possible by the EUCARIS organisational structure that allows to quickly react to changes.By acting fast and precise we remain a better alternative than implementing other parrellel systems.

Lesson 3 - By sharing all costs of EUCARIS, the costs per Member State remain low. This keeps EUCARIS financially attractive. Member states that only participate in, for example, the bilateral information exchange only pay for that functionality.