Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 457International environment and obligationsTo date, the discussion on the relationship between the proposed National Identityscheme and Britain’s international obligations has been confusing. On the one hand, theGovernment is calling for the creation of a 'gold standard' for identity, using techniquesand technologies that are unprecedented. On the other hand, the Government asserts thatthe identity card legislation is merely a harmonising measure, meeting internationalobligations, and is thus no different from the plans and intentions of the UK’sinternational partners.In this section we will look at the nature of the international requirements forstandardised identity documents. We will also address developments in other countries.We conclude that the Government is unnecessarily binding the identity card scheme tothe internationally agreed requirements on passport documents. In doing so, theGovernment has failed to interpret international standards correctly, thereby generatingunnecessary costs, using untested technologies and going well beyond the measuresadopted in any other country that seeks to meet international obligations. TheGovernment is making unnecessary choices on important international issues in order tomeet domestic policies. There are more effective and less complex ways to meetinternational standards and obligations.The Government is, however, placing British citizens at a disadvantage. As ourbiometric passport programme will not be ready for the US deadline, Britain will beexpelled from the US Visa Waiver Programme. This will result in all Britons beingcompelled to obtain visas in order to visit the US as of October 2005. It is our belief thata principal reason that the UK is behind on its obligations is that the UK PassportService has expended vast amounts of its time on consideration of a strategy for identitycards, rather than on devising the means to adhere to actual international requirements.That is, by investing so much time in national registers, iris-scans, fingerprinting, the‘National Identity Agency’ and even the Identity Cards Bill, the UK Passport Servicehas failed to do what was in fact required of it: the digitisation of photographs submittedby new applicants and their insertion within the passport.Background to the international contextIt is certainly true that many countries are moving towards enhanced identityinfrastructures, with much of this activity attributed to rising concerns regardingterrorism. Countries that have repeatedly held national debates on ID cards and rejected