Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract The concluding chapter reviews and compares the modes of biobordering at the EU level and in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and the UK with a particular focus on the transnational exchange of DNA data within the Prüm system. This analysis reveals the multiplicity of heterogeneous biobordering regimes that enact different visions of Europe and nationhood and that have implications for de facto hidden integration and disintegration processes in the EU. ‘European integration’ is believed to be achievable by the harmonization of scientific and technical procedures in different countries. However, the mandatory elements of the Prüm Decisions were politically enforced without taking into consideration the significant differences between EU countries. Thus, hidden disintegration comes as a contingency regarding operational and organizational traditions, legislation, the nature of the criminal justice system, and national variations around the human and economic resources to invest in forensic DNA databases and DNA profiling technologies. The conclusion ends with a proposal of a typology systematizing biobordering dynamics derived from the empirical case studies.