Book excerpt: On 26 November 2015 the Home Secretary announced, by means of a Written Ministerial Statement, the Government's intention to invite both Houses of Parliament to agree that the United Kingdom should rejoin the Prèm Decisions. These are two Council Decisions1 under which the police forces of EU Member States are able automatically to share DNA, fingerprint and vehicle registration data. The Government has also invited the two Houses to agree that the United Kingdom rejoin the Framework Decision on the accreditation of forensic service laboratories, 2 which recognises the validity of DNA and fingerprint analyses from other Member States and is necessary for participation in the Prèm Decisions. Although at the time of writing a motion had not been tabled, the Committee understanding is that there will be a debate in the House of Commons on 8 December, and in the House of Lords on 9 December. The purpose of this Report, is to assist the House, both by presenting the background to the debate in a more succinct and accessible format than the Government has provided, and by putting on the record the view of the European Union Committee on why the UK should rejoin the Prèm Decisions. It is clear to the Committe that the major benefit of fully implementing Prèm is that the initial automated exchange of data relating to criminal investigation, enabling targeted follow-up action, would solve more crimes more quickly, would identify international criminals and volume crime more effectively, and would build up intelligence relevant to the investigation of very serious crime, including terrorism. The recent increase in the level of the terrorist threat underlines the critical importance of realising these benefits, in order to protect the people of the United Kingdom more effectively.