During a debate in the European Parliament's civil liberties committee on Thursday 27 September, the rapporteur tasked with drafting the Parliament's position on the proposals on the security of identity documents, Gérard Deprez (ALDE, Belgium), brought assurances in terms of personal data protection.
On 17 April, the European Commission proposed improving the security elements of EU citizens' identity cards and of the residence permits of their family members who are nationals of a third country (see EUROPE 12003).
The new rules provide for setting common security standards in line with the minimum standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and for making biometric data obligatory for countries that issue identity cards, with fingerprints and facial images stored on a chip integrated in the documents.
On Thursday, the Parliament's rapporteur stated that the objective of the proposal was primarily to facilitate the exercise of Europeans' right to free movement and that it was not in any way to create a European card replacing national identity cards, or to force member countries that do not issue such cards to do so.
Deprez also promised to take account of the concerns of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights and the European personal data controller (see EUROPE 12096). "I have asked for it to be stated in the regulation that it does not constitute a legal basis for creating a biometric database", he said.
According to the draft report, the necessary biometric data will be kept for a maximum of a month (the time to be registered in the chip), after which the data will have to be destroyed.
The Austrian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers is aiming at an agreement by the end of 2018, with a meeting of national experts due to be held on Thursday 4 October. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)