The Europarl Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) today organised a hearing with experts on biometrics. In his opening remarks the MEP Carlos Coelho (Conservative, Portugal) said he generally agreed with the objective of securing people's identities, but has some doubts about adding biometric identifiers to travel documents. Coelho is the rapporteur on 3 different reports for the European Parliament involving the inclusion of biometric features in personal documents.

After listening to what the four experts had to tell him, Mr. Coelho's closing remarks sounded somewhat more critical: "Technological solutions seem handy sometimes, but may hide the new problems they may be causing.

While the contrary can also apply - technology being blocked because measures to work around the problem don't come to the surface - we must make sure that there is a fair balance between the values of security and of freedom. None of the two may be sacrificed for the other." In the two-and-a-half hours that lay between the two remarks, four experts had warned unanimously for the unforeseeable effects of what could be a premature introduction of a technology not yet ready for wide-spread application. Julian Ashbourn who acts as an adviser to the British, U.S. and Japanese governments on biometrics, warned that the focus was presently too much on technological aspects of biometrics, while societal impacts that would inevitably concern the present-day generation as well as our grandchildren were largely undiscussed. In the public discussion, assumptions on the values of biometrics were being made that were simply false - like believing that biometrics could prove that a person actually is who she or he claims to be. "History will show", Mr. Ashbourn said, "that certain assumptions involving biometrics will prove to be ill founded." If related biometric-related initiatives were poorly conceived, states risked the alienation of responsible citizens. Much more discussion, M. Ashbourn argued, was needed before biometrics had sufficient acceptance to be widely implemented - a 25 year time frame would be realistic.

The Article 29 Working Party (all the EU Data Protection Authorities) has released an opinion on the inclusion of biometrics in visa and residence permits for third country nationals. The EU is planning to introduce biometric identifiers in visa and residence permits and to establish a information system on visas (VIS).

The visa and permits will have a contact-less chip which will contain a full-face digital photograph of the holder together with two digital fingerprints.

The Working Party expresses great reservations towards the plans, especially with regard to proportionality issues. The Working Party considers the use of biometrics to establish a more reliable link between visas or residence permits and their holders as legitimate. But a plan to store the biometric identifiers not only in the chip but also in a central database causes major difficulties.

The U.S. House of Representatives has voted for a year-long delay of demanding visa waiver countries to introduce biometric passports for their citizens.

The 2002 Border Security Act demands from 27 countries the inclusion of chips with facial images in their passports, in order to continue participation in the US visa waiver programme. A deadline was set for 26 October 2004 after which citizens from most EU countries would either have to present a biometric passport or a visa to enter the United States.

The U.S. government requested a delay of two years for this requirement as none of the countries would be able to introduce the biometric passports this fall. Without a delay the U.S. state department would be swamped with visa applications from all travellers from the EU.

The House of Representatives only agreed to an one-year extension until 26 October 2005. The US Senate will yet have to approve the delay.

The OECD working party on information security and privacy have published a very informative but dry report about biometrics. The report analyses theory and practice of the following major biometric-based technologies: finger-scanning, hand geometry, facial recognition, iris scanning, retinal scanning, finger geometry, voice recognition and dynamic signature verification. A brief description of other, more obscure biometric-based technologies such as ear geometry, body odour measurement, keystroke dynamics and 'gait' recognition (specific perambulatory movement) is also provided.

Avoiding any grand statements about the desirability of some of these techniques, the report concludes: "The extent to which we are willing to incorporate statutory and policy and technological controls into these systems and technologies will determine the extent to which they will improve our quality of life; providing convenience and security or conversely, the extent to which they threaten our liberty and freedom via actual or potential surveillance and control."

The Article 29 Data Protection Working Party has adopted a working document on genetic data. The technical progress which science has made over recent years in the field of genetic research has given rise to new data protection questions and concerns in relation to the significance and impact of genetic tests and the processing of genetic data.

The document states that any use of genetic data for purposes other than directly safeguarding the data subject's health and pursuing scientific research should require national rules to be implemented, in accordance with the data protection principles. The application of these principles render the blanket implementation of mass genetic screening unlawful.

In addition, the ease with which genetic material can be obtained without the knowledge of the data subject and the relevant information can be subsequently extracted from such material, requires strict regulations in order to prevent the dangers related to new forms of identity theft.

Over forty non-governmental organisations from around the world signed an open letter to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on 30 March 2004.

Privacy International (an EDRI member) and the American Civil Liberties Union wrote the letter calling on the ICAO to reconsider its standards-setting on biometric travel documents.

The ICAO proposes that all passports worldwide implement RFID chips to support face-scanning, and possibly other forms of biometric data, including fingerprinting and iris scanning. This information would be collected at the national level, but then compared to and possibly stored in international databases. Already the EU has proposed to build on the idea in order to create a central register of fingerprints of all EU passport and visa holders.

According to a new Communication on the research into security, the European Commission plans to fund research on "tagging, tracking and tracing devices ... that improve the capability to locate, identify and follow the movement of mobile assets, goods and persons".

The Commission announces the launch of a new funding program entitled 'Enhancement of the European industrial potential in the field of Security research 2004 - 2006'.

The program is a so-called 'Preparatory Action'. It should set the agenda for advanced security research from 2007 onwards. The action is funded with 15 million Euro in 2004 and approx. 65 million Euro overall.

Among the goals of the research is the improvement of 'situation awareness'. Relevant issues for the different projects are identified as "(...) Demonstration of the appropriateness and acceptability of tagging, tracking and tracing devices by static and mobile multiple sensors that improve the capability to locate, identify and follow the movement of mobile assets, goods and persons, including smart documentation (e.g. biometrics, automatic chips with positioning) and data analysis techniques (remote control and access)."

The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a Council Regulation that will set legally binding minimum standards for harmonised security features, including biometric identifiers, in all EU passports.

The Commission chooses facial images as a mandatory biometric identifier for passports. Fingerprints can be added as an option at the discretion of Member States. The proposal sets out the minimum standards and will not stop Member States that wish to go further.

Inclusion of a facial image on a contact-less chip would allow EU Member States to meet the requirements of the US Visa Waiver programme in conformity with standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The US demands the inclusion of facial images in passports from EU countries in order to continue participation in its Visa Waiver programme after October 2004. Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino will travel to the US in May to discuss the looming deadline with US officials. However, for the US to change the October deadline is almost impossible. It would have to go through Congress as it would require a change in the legislation.