Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 65From July 1 st individuals may apply for the new cards; everyone over the age of 14 mustcurrently submit a full set of fingerprints when applying. Procedures have begun to testthe constitutionality of the system. 146ID in EuropeNo European country has such a comprehensive card system as that proposed for theUK. The Home Affairs Committee observed:“Most members of the European Union have voluntary or compulsoryidentity cards. Apart from the United Kingdom the only memberswithout any form of identity card scheme are Ireland, Denmark,Latvia and Lithuania. Most EU countries have a national register, orissue citizens at birth a personal number for use in a wide range ofcircumstances, such as paying tax, opening a bank account or claimingbenefits. Many cards have a biometric, in the sense that theyincorporate a fingerprint, and some are compulsory to carry andproduce on request. No country yet has a biometric system of the sortproposed for the United Kingdom, but a number are introducingsmart-cards and considering options for more sophisticatedbiometrics.” 147There is a wide variety of identity systems in Europe, just as there is a wide array ofconcerns regarding the systems, and each country’s domestic politics varies, just as theircultural values differ. German privacy law, for example, prevents a centralised registryof biometric information, while, according to one study, Polish citizens are not troubledby extensive databases; rather, they are more concerned about access to Governmentinformation 148 – but only recently has the German Government passed a Freedom ofInformation law.Therefore one must be careful when drawing conclusions about the dynamics of identitycards within Europe. Below we will review some of the systems in some detail in orderto examine these dynamics.BelgiumIn Belgium, cards were first issued in 1919 to anyone over the age of 12. They wererenewable every 10 years. Recently the Government announced a new ‘electronic’ cardthat will cost almost three times as much – up to 15 euros per card. These cards willhave to be renewed every five years, again leading to a rise in costs.The Belgian Personal Identity Card (BELPIC) makes Belgium the first country inEurope to include a digital certificate in an ID card. The Belgian Government’s goal isto enable citizens to carry out online secure transactions with government agencies, toaccess e-government applications, and to perform e-banking, or other private146 ‘Wrong tack taken on ID card law’, Wen-chih Lin, Taipei Times, June 5, 2005.147 Home Affairs Committee, Fourth Report, available athttp://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmhaff/130/13002.htm.148 ‘A National Identity Card for Canada?’, Report of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration,October 2003.