EU Commission wants to digitize passports and bring them to smartphones
The Commission has launched a legislative package for digital passports and an EU travel app in which users will also be able to store their passport.
(Image: Oliver Hoffmann/Shutterstock.com)
Checks on people at the Schengen external borders in Europe are to be speeded up with the help of digital travel documents. To this end, the EU Commission is proposing a regulation on the basis of which an app for the electronic transmission of travel data ("EU Travel App") is to be developed.
It should be possible to store passports as digital documents ("ID cards") in the app. It should also be possible to store identity cards on a cell phone. "Digital travel documents are a digital version of the data stored in passports and ID cards," explains the Commission.
Exception fingerprints
The information stored on the chip of the passport or ID card is to be transferred to the app – from the name to the biometric photo, with the exception of fingerprints. It should then also be possible to store these digital IDs in the planned European wallet for electronic identity (EUDI) , the implementation of which has been criticized by civil rights activists.
The Commission wants to develop the travel app with the support of EU-Lisa, the agency responsible for large-scale IT projects. It should be available from 2030. It can be used by all EU citizens and third-country nationals with a biometric passport or EU ID card at the borders of the Schengen area for entry or exit. Their use would remain "completely optional", the Commission assured on Tuesday. The use of digital travel documents would be free of charge.
The app should make it possible to submit travel plans and documents to the border authorities in advance, which will reduce waiting times at border crossings, the Commission explained. However, travelers will still have to carry a physical document with them when crossing an external border for passport control.
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Encryption? Data protection?
According to the Commission, travelers could create a digital travel document by scanning their physical passport or ID card with the app on their cell phone. The application would check "whether the document is genuine and whether the traveler's face matches the facial image stored in the travel document".
Strong encryption methods and consent rules are intended to guarantee data protection and IT security. However, the Commission only intends to regulate the details of this in subsequent legislation. In Germany, the traffic lights have only just removed a clause criticized by former Federal Data Protection Commissioner Ulrich Kelber, according to which private bodies should be given access to e-passport data and biometric features for travel clearance at airports, for example.
(anw)
