EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs on Wednesday (14 January) backed new rules on the introduction of biometric passports throughout the EU later this year, while exempting children under 12 years from having fingerprints included in their passports. The rules were approved at a first reading by an overwhelming majority of MEPs - 594 against 51, while 37 abstained. The fingerprints of children under 12 were found not to be sufficiently reliable because they change as the child grows older The parliamentarians underlined the need to improve document security in the EU by introducing "more reliable biometric data, namely fingerprints," and highlighted the different criteria member states currently apply when checking the passport applicants' identity. "Many countries require that the citizen applying for a passport actually present him or herself in person, together with their documents and photographs, and in these cases the officials at the passport-issuing office can see if that person bears a resemblance to the photo presented," Polish Christian Democrat Urszula Gacek said during a plenary debate on the issue in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs on Wednesday (14 January) backed new rules on the introduction of biometric passports throughout the EU later this year, while exempting children under 12 years from having fingerprints included in their passports.
The rules were approved at a first reading by an overwhelming majority of MEPs - 594 against 51, while 37 abstained.
The fingerprints of children under 12 were found not to be sufficiently reliable because they change as the child grows older
The parliamentarians underlined the need to improve document security in the EU by introducing "more reliable biometric data, namely fingerprints," and highlighted the different criteria member states currently apply when checking the passport applicants' identity.
"Many countries require that the citizen applying for a passport actually present him or herself in person, together with their documents and photographs, and in these cases the officials at the passport-issuing office can see if that person bears a resemblance to the photo presented," Polish Christian Democrat Urszula Gacek said during a plenary debate on the issue in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
