Activites

• 2004/12/29 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Regulation 2004/2252
  • OJ L 385 29.12.2004, p. 0001-0006
• #2630
• 2004/12/13 Council Meeting
• 2004/12/13 End of procedure in Parliament
• 2004/12/13 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• #2626
• 2004/12/02 Council Meeting
  • 2626
• 2004/12/02 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0073/2004 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the resolution drafted by Carlos COELHO (EPP-ED, PT) and made some amendments to the Commission's proposal. The resolution was adopted by 471 votes in favour to 118 against and 6 abstentions:- a new clause states that the biometric data in passports should be used only for verifying the authenticity of the document as well as the identity of the holder by means of directly available comparable featureswhen the passport is required to be produced by law;- Parliament specified that no central database of European Union passports and travel documents containing all EU passport holders' biometric and other data should be set up;- the storage medium may be used only by the competent authorities of the Member States for reading, storing,modifying and erasing data, and by authorised bodies entitled by law to read the data for reading the data;- each Member State must maintain a register of the competent authorities and authorised bodies. It must communicate that register and, if necessary, regular updates to the Commission, which must maintain an up-to-date online compilation of the national registers.With regard to the additional technical specifications referred to in the draft regulation, Parliament stated that the Commission must forward its draft decision on the additional technical specifications to the European Parliament which may, within a period of three months, adopt a resolution opposing that draft decision.The application of the Regulation is contingent on the certification by national data protection authorities that they have adequate investigative powers and resources to enforce Directive 95/46/EC in relation to data collected under it.Finally, Parliament wanted the deadline for implementing the regulation to be extended to 18 months (instead of one year) after the approval of the technical requirements for the passports at the latest.

• 2004/12/01 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2004/10/28 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A6-0028/2004
• 2004/10/25 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• 2004/09/16 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• #2588
• 2004/06/08 Council Meeting
  • 2588 summary

    The Mixed Committee gave political guidance on standards for security features and biometrics in EU citizens' passports. The Committee broadly agreed that the EU citizens' passports should contain a first mandatory biometric identifier, a facial identifier and an optical one, in principle fingerprints.�

• 2004/03/08 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2004/02/18 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2004)0116 summary

    PURPOSE : to introduce harmonised security features and biometrics on EU citizens' passports. PROPOSED ACT : Council Regulation CONTENT : This proposal is one of those which follow the Thessaloniki European Council's call for a coherent approach on biometric identifiers for documents for third country nationals, EU citizen's passports and information systems (VIS and SIS II). The first step has already been realised with two proposals on the integration of biometric identifiers into the visa and the residence permit for third country nationals. This proposal forms the second step. It aims to render the passport more secure by a legally binding instrument on minimum standards for harmonised security features and at the same time to establish a reliable link between the genuine holder and the document by introducing biometric identifiers. This will also allow EU Member States to meet the requirements of the US Visa waiver programme in conformity with international standards. The first biometric identifier, the high-resolution electronic portrait, is already available in most passports. At borders, the electronic record could be used to display the image on the screen as well as the additional visual check, even if facial recognition technology is not applied. This would constitute a basic application of the digital photograph. A more advanced application would be the use of facial recognition systems with the digital photograph. This would require the availability of the necessary technology and equipment at the border crossing-point. The Commission leaves the choice to Member States whether they wish to display only the photo on the screen or run a facial recognition programme. The quality standards for the digital photograph set out by ICAO should be respected in order to ensure interoperability. The Commission leaves the choice of technology to Member States. The second biometric identifier, the storage of fingerprints, either on the storage medium and/or in a national database is left at the discretion of Member States. However, if they register fingerprints it should be in interoperable formats, as it would enable possible use via bilateral agreements between Member States. The access to such fingerprints could be administered by the introduction of Public/Private Key Infrastructure. In relation to the use of biometrics, the following technical requirements seem to be necessary: - Storage medium. For the time being, the most appropriate storage medium is a contactless microchip. - Enrolment equipment. Member States have to install enrolment equipment in the place where the data will be produced. - Verification systems. These have to be installed at border posts. Such equipment should be shared to achieve the verification of visas and acquired in the framework of the setting up of the VIS system provided that the implementation of biometrics is decided upon for the VIS. Implementing powers as regards the regulation are conferred on the Committee created by Article 6 of Regulation 1683/95 laying down a uniform format for visas. Directive 95/46/EC on data protection applies to the processing of personal data -including biometric data- by Member States' authorities within the scope of Community law. In accordance withthe Directive, Member States have established supervisory authorities that are responsible for the monitoring of the application of the provisions adopted pursuant to Directive 95/46/EC. However, the supervisory authorities have a particular lack of resources. Therefore, the Commission emphasizes that measures aiming to reinforce public security must respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of the persons concerned. This implies in this context the increase of personnel in the national data protection supervisory authorities in order to ensure effective supervision and the choice of technologies, which comply with the provisions of Directive 95/46/EC. This proposal goes on to discuss the creation of a centralised European register of issued passports (and possibly other documents used for travel purposes) in a long-term perspective. Finally, the Regulation will constitute a development of provisions of the Schengen acquis. The United Kingdom and Ireland are not bound by it or subject to its application. The position of Denmark, Norway and Iceland are all discussed in the proposal.�

  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/justice/', 'title': 'Justice'}],

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2004)0116
• Debate in Council: 2588
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A6-0028/2004
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Debate in Council: 2626
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0073/2004
• : Regulation 2004/2252
• : OJ L 385 29.12.2004, p. 0001-0006

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)