Brussels, 30/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - Commission Vice President Franco Frattini has written to the United States Congress to ask for a ten month postponement of the obligation to hold a biometric passport to enter the United States, a Commission spokesman announced on Wednesday. In his letter Mr Frattini asked for the entry into force of this obligation - which would normally apply as of 26 October 2005 - to be postponed until 28 August 2006, given that the majority of EU member states will not be in a position by the earlier date to provide a passport with an image of the holder's face stored on a chip, as required by the Americans. The 28 August 2006 will also be the date of entry into force of the European regulation on new passports adopted on 28 February, which allowed member states eighteen months to include this image in passports. In his letter, Mr Frattini also noted that the Americans were themselves behind schedule and that the postponement would be of “mutual benefit”. Mr Frattini has not received a response from Congress at this stage.