Security features and biometrics in passports

Opinion on the proposal for a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States, OJ C 200, 06.08.2008, p. 1

On 26 March 2008, the EDPS adopted an opinion on the Commission's proposal aiming at revising the 2004 Council Regulation that sets out minimum standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents.

The EDPS welcomes the introduction of exemptions from giving fingerprints based on the age of the person or his/her inability to provide fingerprints. However, he still considers these exemptions as insufficient to remedy the imperfections of biometrics, such as the impact of misidentification or failure to enrol.
The EDPS' opinion includes the following recommendations:

• fingerprints from children: the proposed six-year age limit should be considered as a provisional one, or brought in line with international practice (14 years). After three years, the age limit should be reviewed and defined by an in-depth study which is to identify the accuracy of the systems obtained under real conditions;
• fingerprints from the elderly: an age limit for elderly, based on similar experiences already in place (79 years), should be introduced as an additional exemption;
• principle of "one person-one passport": this principle should be applied only to children above the relevant age limit;
• "breeder" documents: additional measures should be proposed to harmonise the production and the use of documents required in Member States to issue passports (“breeder” documents).

The EDPS recalls that exemptions should in no way stigmatize or discriminate individuals who will be exempt, because of their age as a precautionary principle or because they present obviously unreadable fingerprints