Support Our Work Mailing list About / Contact

EU: Smart card passports

01 March 1994

Support our work: become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

Six of the twelve member states of the European Union have concrete plans to introduce "smart cards" to replace the traditional passport. Most advanced are the French, who will start the introduction of the smart card in 1995 over a planned ten-year period. In Holland an experiment with the "Schiphol Travel Pass" was recently discontinued. About a thousand frequently travelling participants had a smart card which allowed them to clear customs through a dedicated checkpoint, where their fingerprint was compared with the information registered in the card. Schiphol officials declared that this method was too cumbersome. All persons registered with the Aliens department will receive a chipcard shortly which will allow the police to check their identity. The present paper identity card is said to be too vulnerable to tampering.

Our work is only possible with your support.
Become a Friend of Statewatch from as little as £1/€1 per month.

 Previous article

Turkey detains Kurdish MPs

Next article 

Europe - in brief

 

Spotted an error? If you've spotted a problem with this page, just click once to let us know.

Report error

Statewatch does not have a corporate view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute an endorsement. Registered UK charity number: 1154784. Registered UK company number: 08480724. Registered company name: The Libertarian Research & Education Trust. Registered office: MayDay Rooms, 88 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1DH. © Statewatch ISSN 1756-851X. Personal usage as private individuals "fair dealing" is allowed. We also welcome links to material on our site. Usage by those working for organisations is allowed only if the organisation holds an appropriate licence from the relevant reprographic rights organisation (eg: Copyright Licensing Agency in the UK) with such usage being subject to the terms and conditions of that licence and to local copyright law.

About | Contact | Privacy Policy