Brussels, 14/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - The attack on individuals data protection rights by the obligation to take fingerprints contained in EU Regulation 2252/2004 on biometric passports is proportionate to the objectives of the regulation and does not affect the validity of the regulation itself.
That was the substance of an opinion given by Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi to the European Court of Justice on 13 June in case C-291/12 to a point put to the Court of Justice by the administrative court of Gelsenkirchen in Germany. The German court received an appeal from a certain Mr Schwarz against the refusal of the city of Bochum to issue him with a passport because he refused to have his fingerprints taken. In his appeal, he challenged the validity of the EU regulation, which gave rise to the fingerprint requirement laid down by the German authorities for anyone wanting a passport. He argued that the regulation infringes the right to the protection of personal data, which is protected by the European Convention on the Safeguard of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights. The German court asked the Court of Justice about the validity of the regulation and the right of an individual to have a passport issued without his fingerprints being taken.
In his conclusions, the advocate general suggests that the Court of Justice should rule that the infringement on the right to the protection of individual information made by the regulation is proportionate to the objective pursued by that very regulation to make more reliable the connection between the passport and its holder and to counter falsification and fraudulent use of passports. Weighing the pros and cons of fingerprints and the potential infringement on the right to have one's personal information protected, he said that the legislator had taken all the measures needed to ensure the fair and legal treatment of the personal information required for the issuing of a passport and had made a measured and balanced weighing up of the interests of the European Union in this connection. He says that the validity of the regulation is not undermined in any way. (FG/transl.fl)