Sécurité des documents de voyage

En bref

The delivery of more secure travel documents is a key part of the fight organised crime and illegal immigration. Following the 11 September attacks on the US, the need to ensure travel documents did belong to the bearer became pressing. 

The inclusion of 'biometric identifiers' emerged quickly as a means to increase public safety, a solution strongly advocated by the US. Biometric identifiers are observable biological characteristics which can be used to identify an individual (e.g. facial patterns, fingerprints and iris/retina patterns). In May 2003, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted a blueprint for the integration of biometric identification information into passports and other Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTDs). Facial recognition was selected as the globally interoperable biometric for machine-assisted identity confirmation.

On 27 November 2003, the Commission adopted proposals to put biometrics into visas and residence permits that EU countries issue to non-EU citizens. A few months later, on 18 February 2004, the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation harmonising security standards, including biometrics, for EU citizens' passports. The Commission's draft regulation also requires all newly issued passports to be 'machine-readable'. This means that the passport must contain a barcode enabling the personal details (name, date and place of birth, etc.) to be called up on a computer screen.

Enjeux

Legal basis of the proposal on biometrics in passports 

The legal basis of the proposal for the inclusion of biometrics into EU passports has been challenged. Article 18 of the EU Nice Treaty specifically rules out EU harmonised passports, saying that the Commission's powers to act to promote freedom of movement "shall not apply to provisions on passports, identity cards, residence permits".

Choice of biometrics 

The Commission has chosen the facial image fingerprints as the mandatory biometric identifier in EU passports and made fingerprints an optional identifier. The Council decided in October 2004 that fingerprints should also be mandatory. For visas and residence permits, both digital photo and fingerprints should be included.

Some member states are in favour of using iris scans as an indentifier but the Commission considers that the technology is not yet reliable enough.

Storage of biometrics data and privacy issues 

Biometrics identifiers are due to be stored on a chip in travel documents and on a European database, currently under development, called the Schengen Information System II (SIS II).

Privacy watchdogs and certain politicians argue that strict safeguards must be foreseen to ensure that biometric identifiers are solely used for identification purposes and not to control people. The proposal is to put in place a system whereby citizens can complain to a data protection authority if they feel they are victims of a breach of privacy.

Stopping counterfeiting of documents

The European Commission is taking measures to curb the counterfeiting of EU visa and residence documents. A European image archiving system , FADO, is to be established to facilitate the fast and simple exchange between Member States of information concerning genuine and false documents. The FADO database will contain images of false and forged documents and summaries of information on forgery and security techniques.  

The system will only replace ordinary paper-based exchanges when all Member States are in a position to use computerised systems. 

Moreover, the EU and the US will communicate information to Interpol to create an International database of lost and stolen passports.

The cost of biometrics and industry perspectives

Although encouraging member states to share equipment and set up shared consular offices to save money, the Commission is facing criticism from MEPs for not costing the exercise fully.

The biometric industry is booming and under pressure to meet tight deadlines for the issuance of biometric identification documents. However, technology enhancements in travel  documents will only be seen as partial solutions if they are not adapted on a  global scale. International standardisation for new technologies is  necessary, otherwise there may well be  delays in their deployment.  

North American companies are said to dominate 75 per cent of the market. 

Co-operation with the US 

All EU member states (except Greece) are included in a list of 27 countries (including Slovenia and the EU-15 without Greece) whose citizens do not need visas to enter the United States. The US has said it will start demanding visas from the visa waiver countries from 26 October 2005 if they do not have biometric data on their passports.

The US authorities are building a database to store the biometrics identifiers included in travel documents (digitised photographs and fingerprints on visas for most of the world countries and digitised photographs on passports for countries participating in the US visa waiver programme).

Réactions

Former EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino stressed that the introduction of biometric data into travel documents follows a request from the International Civil Aviation Organisation - not a demand from Washington. He said that the inclusion of biometric identifiers on EU passports will improve the accuracy of identification and make travel documents more secure against counterfeiting. He insisted that the EU has nothing to fear from the technology. He said: "I recognise that it is the use you make of technology that might endanger fundamental rights. (...) We have to take our political responsibilities and provide the legal framework that defines clearly the context in which biometric data should be used." 

According to the Council, “the harmonisation of security features and the integration of biometric identifiers is an important step towards the use of new elements in the perspective of future developments at European level, which render passports and other travel documents more secure and establish a more reliable link between them and the holder. It is an important contribution to ensuring that passports and other travel documents are protected against fraudulent use”. 

For privacy organisations like the UK's Statewatch, the flaws of biometric identification, which has even been criticised in official circles, are real. Tony Bunyan, director of Statewatch, said: "These proposals are yet another result of the 'war on terrorism', which show that the EU is just as keen as the USA to introduce systems of mass surveillance which have much more to do with political and social control than fighting terrorism."

Dates clés

• Biometrics will gradually be introduced into EU's citizens passports and visas of non-EU nationals as of 2005 

Liens externes