EU PASSPORT DEADLINE
January 1st, 2005
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has formally ordered member states (except Britain, Ireland and Denmark) to incorporate machine-readable photographs in new issued passports within 18 months. Also confirming an earlier decision that fingerprints be included within 36 months, this clashes with USA calls for foreign nationals participating in its visa waiver regime to use fingerprinted passports from October 2005. The aim of the EU regulation is to "protect against falsification and the better identification of passport holders".
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has formally ordered member states (except Britain, Ireland and Denmark) to incorporate machine-readable photographs in new issued passports within 18 months. Also confirming an earlier decision that fingerprints be included within 36 months, this clashes with USA calls for foreign nationals participating in its visa waiver regime to use fingerprinted passports from October 2005. The aim of the EU regulation is to "protect against falsification and the better identification of passport holders".
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