The European Union is supporting the development of interoperable biometric databases across the Western Balkans—sometimes referred to as BALKANDAC—modelled on the EU's EURODAC system. Through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II and IPA III), candidate countries including Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo have received funding to develop biometric registration systems, purchase biometric equipment, and strengthen the registration capacities of asylum and law enforcement authorities. These initiatives form part of the EU's broader strategy of European Integrated Border Management and aim to prepare candidate countries for eventual alignment with the EU acquis.
A central objective of these developments is to enable interoperability between Western Balkan biometric databases and EU systems. By allowing biometric "hits" to be shared across databases, Member States would be able to identify the Western Balkan country through which an asylum seeker transited and facilitate returns to designated Safe Third Countries. The expansion of these databases is complemented by Frontex's operational presence across the region. Under status agreements with countries including Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro, Frontex officers may access national biometric databases, subject to varying authorization requirements, while some agreements also permit the onward communication of personal data. Questions remain, however, as to whether these arrangements provide adequate safeguards under EU data protection law.
Serbia illustrates how these developments are being implemented in practice. According to the European Commission, Serbia now operates a fully functional biometric database and Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) used to register both asylum seekers and "irregular migrants." Government strategies and accession planning documents explicitly commit Serbia to aligning its legal and technical framework with EURODAC and the Dublin system (now replaced under the New Pact), including preparations to connect to the central EURODAC infrastructure before EU accession.
The developments raise significant privacy concerns including uncertainty over how biometric data are collected, stored, shared, and accessed, as well as the limited opportunities for individuals to access or correct their data. The inclusion of both asylum seekers and of criminalized "irregular migrants" within the same biometric databases also risks reinforcing the convergence of migration management and criminal law enforcement. Most importantly interoperable databases in the Balkans may facilitate returns from EU Member States by providing evidence of transit through safe-third countries in the Western Balkan countries, reinforcing EU efforts to externalise migration management.