Note on the definition of third-country nationals in the Commission’s ECRIS-TCN proposal

In June 2017 the Commission proposed to establish a centralized system, the ECRIS-TCN, for the exchange of criminal record data on convicted third-country nationals and stateless persons (COM(2017)344 final). The definition of a ‘third country national’ in Article 3 (g) of the proposal includes also Union citizens with a double nationality, whose second nationality is from a third state. The Meijers Committee explains why the wide definition of third-country national in this proposal is in breach of Union law.