The United States will not allow for any further delay in the introduction of biometric identifiers in passports of EU citizens travelling to the US. EU Justice Commissioner Frattini sent an urgent letter to the US Congress asking for a delay of 10 months in introducing biometrics in the passports of all EU citizens. In his letter, Frattini states only six EU countries - Belgium, Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Luxembourg - are able to meet the original deadline of 26 October this year. But on 31 March 2005 the chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, James Sensenbrenner, replied that an extension was unlikely.

On 3 December 2004 the Council of ministers of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA Council) adopted a new regulation on biometrics, forcing member states to include two biometric identifiers in passports and travel documents: digitised fingerprints and a face scan. The regulation was published in the Official Journal on 29 December 2004. The technical standards were defined in a Commission decision on 28 February 2005. Face scans have to be included in all new passports before 28 August 2006, fingerprints before 28 February 2008.

The US demands inclusion of a facial image on a contact-less chip in passports in order for EU citizens to continue to use the US Visa Waiver Program. The technical standards for the chip are defined by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The US originally demanded the EU should comply with the demand for at least one biometric identifier from October 2004 onwards, but allowed for a delay of 1 year. The US will not enforce the biometrics on its own citizens until the end of 2006.

Since 30 September 2004 all visa-free travellers are photographed and fingerprinted upon arrival in the US. After 26 October 2005 all EU travellers to the US will also have to apply for a visa on top of being subjected to hassle at the border to verify their biometrics. EU Commission spokesperson Friso Roscam Abbing told IDG news service the Commission is considering a counter-attack. "The EU will decide in the next couple of weeks if it will require U.S. citizens to obtain visas to travel to EU countries if their U.S. passports lack digitised facial data."

On 30 March the Commission released a new study about the future of biometrics in the EU. The study was ordered by the Europarl Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) in June 2004. The study predicts a giant boost in the use of biometrics in everyday life, once businesses follow-up on the mass acceptation of biometrics in passports. This 'diffusion effect' will cause a need for new legislation. Another main conclusion of the study is the need to recognise the limitations of biometrics "and the difference that can exist between the perception and the reality of the sense of security provided." But, as long as the purposes of biometric applications are clearly defined and there is some fall-back procedure in case of failure, the study sees a very bright future for an EU biometrics industry. It is a good thing if governments take the lead with biometrics, because "the unregulated exploitation of intellectual property rights to aspects of biometrics can significantly reduce competition in biometrics and/or distort development, direction and speed of uptake." (p. 16)

The study presents 4 different scenario's with plenty of examples of future use, ranging from the need to use a finger-scan to start an electronic game to presenting a facial scan to be able to use public transport. Possibly schools will use a combination of voice and iris recognition to identify the correct parent and nurses may want to take DNA samples from each newly born.

Under the summary of privacy-issues the study finds that in general, the existing legal framework for data protection is adequate, but concerns may be raised about 'the way the digital data is produced, stored, compared and possibly linked to other information about the individual'. These concerns only seem to affect business applications, for example when the study warns about people trading in their privacy in exchange for some commercial advantage.

Aside from a general remark about an (unfounded) fear of 'surveillance society' the study doesn't condemn the current aspirations in many member states to create a central database with biometric identifiers. It might hurt state p.r., according to the study. "If the precise purpose of holding such data is not clear, or considered ethical and responsible, then this may create a negative impression among citizens. Similarly, the blurring of government agency functionality, for example between immigration and law enforcement, may well be considered negatively by citizens." Only two of the 166 pages (authored by the Dutch legal professor Paul de Hert) explicitly address fundamental privacy concerns. "Common sense pushed people to adopt a critical attitude (that regrettably is hardly echoed in the current legal framework), refusing to accept simple answers about safety and protection when there is little evidence that security technology actually makes us safer." (p. 90)

IDG: Possible U.S.-EU fight looms over biometric passports (04.04.2005)
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,100...

Commission decision C(2005) 409 (official version in German and French, 28.02.2005)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/doc_centre/freetravel/documents... http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/doc_centre/freetravel/documents...

Unofficial translation in English
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/doc_centre/freetravel/documents...

Council Regulation on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States (10.12.2004)
http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/04/st15/st15152.en04.pdf

EDRI-gram: Rush vote European Parliament on biometrics (02.12.2004)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number2.23/biometrics

Biometrics at the Frontiers: Assessing the impact on society (30.03.2005)
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/doc_centre/freetravel/doc/biome...

New EU study predicts boost in use of biometrics (31.03.2005)
http://www.euobserver.com/?sid=9&aid=18758