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EU Open letter to MEPs: oppose mandatory fingerprinting for national identity cards

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08 March 2019

An open letter from five NGOs calls on MEPs in the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) to oppose the introduction of mandatory fingerprinting for national identity cards, as required by the proposed Regulation on strengthening security standards for identity cards and residence documents.

See: Open letter to the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee: Oppose mandatory fingerprinting for national identity cards (pdf):

"On 11 March your committee is due to vote on the proposal for a Regulation on strengthening the security of identity cards of Union citizens and of residence documents issued to Union citizens and their family members exercising their right of free movement (procedure 2018/0104).

We call on you to vote against this text to oppose the requirement that EU citizens be subjected to mandatory fingerprinting for national identity cards. This measure is a disproportionate breach of the rights to privacy and data protection and must be rejected.

(...)

The proposed Regulation will unjustifiably breach the privacy and data protection rights of hundreds of millions of EU citizens. We firmly oppose the idea that free movement can only be guaranteed through the use of biometric identification technologies and call on you to do the same."

Individuals can also contact their MEPs (EP, link) to call on them or their colleagues to vote against the proposal.

Further reading

Identity cards: there is still time to oppose the EU's 'fingerprinting Regulation'

Bozhidar Bozhanov, Open Letter to EU Lawmakers Against Fingerprints in ID Cards (19 February 2019, Medium, link)

Analysis: Fingerprints in identity cards: who will oppose an unjustified and unnecessary proposal? (November 2018, pdf)

Biometrics in identity cards: the Member States want to fingerprint children (26 August 2018)

Press release: EU plans to include fingerprints in identity cards are unjustified and unnecessary (11 June 2018) and Analysis: Fingerprints in identity cards: unnecessary and unjustified (June 2018, pdf)

Prepare to be fingerprinted: new EU proposals foresee mandatory biometrics in national ID cards (18 April 2018)