Belgrade, 12-14 June 2023 - The first meeting of the thematic working group, organised under the auspices of the Romanian PCC SEE Chairmanship-in-Office and in cooperation with the incoming Serbian PCC SEE Chairmanship, focused on automated exchange of DNA data and brought together key national DNA and IT experts from the PCC SEE Contracting Parties.  The aim of the meeting was to outline key legal, organisational, technical and other issues relevant for a successful operational exchange of DNA data, as well as to map the current state of play and remaining gaps concerning automated DNA data exchange in the non-EU Contracting Parties. The group members also discussed the modalities of their future work and ways of creating a living network of key forensic and IT experts in the PCC SEE family. The European Commission Directorate-General for Informatics (DG DIGIT) contributed with a detailed presentation concerning the TESTA network, the process of obtaining access, and other key information related to this technical precondition for automated data exchange in practice.

In March 2023, the PCC SEE Expert Working Group formally established a Thematic Working Group on the Practical and Technical Implementation of the PCC Prüm Agreement, which will serve as a mechanism to facilitate the non-EU PCC SEE Contracting Parties in reaching their obligatory full EU Prüm readiness, as well as to boost regional information exchange and further improve the communication channels between the EU and non-EU PCC SEE Contracting Parties, until the start of operational automated data exchange amongst each other.