Report - Guardian

54 The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005advantage of the UK, as it would reduce the costs and administrative burdens. Also, ifthe UK followed the US requirements for a single biometric, the UK certainly wouldnot have to worry about having a ‘second class’ passport. Canada and the US have alsorejected implementing additional biometrics in their own passports.US Demands and RequirementsAt this juncture it is useful to review the US requirements: the USA-PATRIOT Actrequires only that the President, within two years, must certify a biometric technologystandard for use in identifying aliens seeking admission into the US. The policy wasmodified by the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act 2002, requiringthat all visa-waiver program countries implement, by October 2004, biometric passportprogrammes that satisfy the ICAO standards.Countries that fail to comply with the deadline would be excluded from the Visa-waiverprogram, with a costly consequence. As the deadline approached, however, it wasbecoming clear that no countries in the program were ready to issue biometric passports.The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security recognised that thiscould create a potential hazard as hundreds of thousands of visitors to the US wouldhave to apply for a visa, creating chaos at US consulates and embassies. The Secretariesof State and Homeland Security appealed to the US Congress for a two-year delay to thedeadline, citing ‘privacy issues’ and the technological challenges encountered by theseother countries. The Secretaries warned that potential visitors to the US would ‘votewith their feet’ and go elsewhere. 94Congress responded unfavourably to this request, and granted only a one-yearextension. Countries now have until October 2005 to implement new passport regimesthat include a biometric; further postponement appeared difficult to achieve. It seemsunlikely that many countries will be ready for this deadline, particularly if theirGovernments insist on including additional biometrics, which will involve morecomplicated registration processes and additional technologies and costs.The additional complexity that Europe and the UK are introducing to the passport isunnecessary. As a result, these countries will miss the deadline, to the disadvantage oftheir citizens who will now have to seek visas in order to visit the US. The Chairman ofthe Congressional committee responsible for the biometric passport deadline, JamesSensenbrenner, has warned EU and UK diplomats regarding unnecessarycomplications. 95 According to one report, Representative Sensenbrenner expressed“dismay” that the European Union has gone further and mandated both fingerprint andfacial biometrics:“The Border Security Act stipulated only that biometric identifiers anddocuments meet ICAO standards, and that the passport be machinereadable.(…) (T)hat the EU should choose an elaborate and94 Letter to the Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, from the Secretary ofHomeland Security and the Secretary of State, March 17, 2004.95 It is important to note that Sensenbrenner also penned the REAL ID Act.