When an individual finds their lost or mislaid identity card, they should tell the police or their commune. The police indicated this in a communiqué yesterday (Thursday). The reason for this is because immediately the I.D. card is reported missing, the national and international police services are alerted and the I.D. document may be seized.
Some 167 individual found themselves up against this problem during the summer.
It is, in fact, not a rare occurrence for an individual to declare his I.D. card lost or stolen.
This is done through Docstop and with the Service de la Population (responsible for issuing I.D. cards) or indeed the police.
It may then happen that the individual finds his document but forgets to inform the authorities.
The police warn, “For individuals reusing their documents who are checked in Belgium or abroad, there may be negative consequences.”
Once the card is declared lost, the police send details to both national and international authorities, with a view to the card potentially being seized.
This year, the management of the Coopération Policière et Judiciaire Internationale within the federal police received 287 notices of this type from abroad. Indeed 167 of them occurred during the summer months.
The police added final points to be aware of, “After ‘forensic examination’ of their identity and all necessary irritating administrative checks, the individuals concerned were nervertheless able to resume their journey.”
They go on, “This was not, however, without the inevitable time-wasting.”
The police concluded, “This was owing to, in cases of doubt relating to identity, the document being seized and its bearer having to stop by the Belgian Embassy of whichever country he was visiting, before resuming his journey.”
The Brussels Times
