5.3.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 62/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 407/2002 of 28 February 2002 laying down certain rules to implement Regulation (EC) No 2725/2000 concerning the establish- ment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2725/2000 of 11 December 2000 concerning the establishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Eurodac Regulation’) ('), and in particular Article 22(1) thereof, Whereas: (1)  Article 22(1) of the Eurodac Regulation provides for the Council to adopt the implementing provisions necessary for laying down the procedure referred to in Article 4(7), the procedure for the blocking of data referred to in Article 12(1) and for drawing up the statistics referred to in Article 12(2) of the Eurodac Regulation. (2)  Denmark, in accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on the position of Denmark annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty establishing the European Community, is not participating in the adoption of this Regulation and is therefore neither bound by it nor subject to its application, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: Article 1 Definitions For the purposes of this Regulation: (a) ‘Central Unit' shall mean the unit referred to in Article 1(2)(a) of the Eurodac Regulation; (b) ‘database’ shall mean the computerised central database referred to in Article 1(2)(b) of the Eurodac Regulation; (c) ‘comparison’ shall mean the procedure of checking whether fingerprint data recorded in the database match those trans- mitted by a Member State. () O] L 316, 15.12.2000, p. 1. Article 2 Transmission 1. Fingerprints shall be digitally processed and transmitted in the data format referred to in Annex I As far as it is necessary for the efficient operation of the Central Unit, the Central Unit shall establish the technical requirements for transmission of the data format by Member States to the Central Unit and vice versa. The Central Unit shall ensure that the fingerprint data transmitted by the Member States can be compared by the computerised fingerprint recognition system. 2. Member States should transmit the data referred to in Article 5(1) of the Eurodac Regulation electronically. As far as it is necessary for the efficient operation of the Central Unit, the Central Unit shall establish the technical requirements to ensure that data can be properly electronically transmitted from the Member States to the Central Unit and vice versa. Transmission of data in paper form using the form set out in Annex II or by other means of data support (diskettes, CD-ROM or other means of data support which may be devel- oped and generally used in future) should be limited to situa- tions in which there are continuous technical problems. 3. The reference number referred to in Article 5(1)(d) of the Eurodac Regulation shall make it possible to relate data unam- biguously to one particular person and to the Member State which is transmitting the data. In addition, it shall make it possible to tell whether such data relate to an asylum seeker or a person referred to in Article 8 or Article 11 of the Eurodac Regulation. The reference number shall begin with the identifi- cation letter or letters by which, in accordance with the norm referred to in Annex [, the Member State transmitting the data is identified. The identification letter or letters shall be followed by the identification of the category of person. ‘1’ refers to data relating to asylum seekers, 2’ to persons referred to in Article 8 of the Eurodac Regulation and ‘3’ to persons referred to in Article 11 of the Eurodac Regulation. The Central Unit shall establish the technical procedures necessary for Member States to ensure receipt of unambiguous data by the Central Unit.