Inclusion of fingerprints on ID cards to be challenged in Constitutional Court

Inclusion of fingerprints on ID cards to be challenged in Constitutional Court

Jurist Matthias Dobbelaere-Welvaert has vowed to challenge a bill to include fingerprints on identity cards in the Constitutional Court if it is adopted as it stands. The lawyer, who is from the De Juristen law firm, said the measure represented an excessive violation of privacy and did not add much in terms of security.

The bill, approved by a parliamentary commission on Thursday, is aimed at combatting identity fraud. It entails including fingerprints on ID cards, as is already the case for passports, starting in April 2019, according to Interior Minister Jan Jambon. The process should be completed over a period of ten years, by which time the old cards without fingerprints would all have been renewed.

“The authorities always want more and more personal information," Dobbelaere-Welvaert charged. “They will keep doing this for as long as a legal stop is not put to it,” added the legal expert, who specialises in information technology law.

He noted that the Commission on Privacy had come out against the bill. “This body rarely takes tough positions,” he said. “In this case it is very critical.”

Dobbelaere-Welvaert is in discussion with potential allies for his legal action against the incoming measure.

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The Brussels Times


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