THE 15 members of the European Union’s (EU) Schengen open borders system will be able to access each other’s driving licence data in future, the EU Council of Ministers has decided.

The decision is aimed at preventing the re-registering in different EU member states of stolen vehicles, allowing checks to be made following re-registration applications.

Britain and Ireland are not members of the Schengen system, although non-EU states Norway and Iceland are.

The name Schengen originates from a small town in Luxembourg. In June 1985, seven European Union countries signed a treaty to end internal border checkpoints and controls. More countries have joined the treaty and currently there are 15 Schengen countries, all in Europe.