EU makes biometric data mandatory on ID cards

By Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

ANKARA (AA) - The European Union passed a regulation on Thursday to make fingerprints and facial images mandatory in ID cards of EU citizens and residence cards of their non-EU family members.

European Council said in a statement that the proposal for a regulation aims at strengthening the security in three domains, including identification cards of EU citizens, registration certificates issued to union citizens residing for more than three months in a host member state, and residence cards issued to family members of union citizens who are not nationals of a member state.

“Biometric data (namely fingerprints and facial images, stored on a chip in the card) are made mandatory for EU citizens' ID cards (older than 12 years) and non-EU family members' residence cards,” the statement said.

The proposal also provides for a phasing out period of previous formats within five years, the statement said.

The cards that are less secure, as for instance not machine-readable cards, will be phased out within two years from the date of application of the regulation.

Identity cards will have a period of validity of 10 years, however, limiting the identity cards issued to minors will have a period of validity of five years.