Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/997322
7 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JUNE 2018 ID cards could be changed again to include biometric data under EU plan YANNICK PACE MALTESE identity cards could be set to include biometric data under European Commission proposals for all member states, although Malta appears not to be supporting the measure yet. In April the Commission put forward the proposal that would see ID cards across the union include fingerprints and facial recognition, as has already been rolled out with passports. It is envisaged that non-compliant forms of ID cards across the un- ion would be changed within five years, while "less secure forms" would be phased out within two years. Malta would be one of 16 countries where citizens would be obliged to provide their fin- gerprints for ID cards. The pro- cess will cost millions of euros to upgrade to new ID cards. According to the European Commission's own impact as- sessment the proposal would mainly seek to address the cur- rent insufficient acceptance of ID documents in other member states, and document fraud and lack of authentication ID docu- ments. The EC says this generally re- sults in increased burden and cost for citizens moving from one state to the next, as well as being a threat to security for member states. In fact, the proposal is part of a wider framework that aims to give law enforcement authorities better access to bank account information inside national centralised registries, as well as better sharing of information between national Financial In- telligence Units. While the Commission said the proposal would "positively affect" the citizens' fundamen- tal right on freedom of move- ment and of residence, the civil liberties NGO Statewatch has argued that the measures are unwarranted. "The introduc- tion of some mandatory EU- wide standards for identity cards may well be justified – but the proposal to fingerprint 175 mil- lion people as part of that is ir- relevant and unjustified," the NGO said in a position paper published this week. According to the NGO, the Commission did not sufficiently demonstrate that biometric ID documents are justifiable for se- curity reasons. Referring to a European Court of Justice case from 2012, the NGO said that while the man- datory inclusion of fingerprints in passports was justified to pre- vent illegal entry into the EU, "in the context of ID cards, the threshold for satisfying the ne- cessity test may be higher, be- cause ID cards are compulsory in some member states in which fingerprints are not currently collected." This, it said, was even men- tioned in the Commission's own impact assessment of the pro- posal which found that a stand- ardised system, without obliging citizens to provide fingerprints was "more efficient and propor- tional". Despite this, the Commission was insisting on proposing man- datory profiling through facial recognition and fingerprinting. The NGO expressed its hope that member states that had plicitly stated that they did not see the necessity of a legislative explicitly stated that they did not see the necessity of a legisla- tive measure on ID cards, which included Malta, would oppose the introduction of the measure within the European Council, while also urging the European Parliament to reject it. A spokesperson for the parlia- mentary secretary for citizen- ship would only say that the government is "following closely this discussion". ypace@mediatoday.com.mt Malta, reportedly unfavourable to the measure, says it is following discussion 'closely' Maltese ID cards (below) were overhauled back in 2012 so as to include an eID chip that allows the card to be machine-readable Operational Programme I – Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges ANNOUNCEMENT - CALL VII Cohesion Fund The Managing Authority for Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 in Malta, the Planning and Priorities Coordination Division (PPCD) within the Ministry of European Affairs and Equality (MEAE), would like to announce that it is launching a call for project proposals under the Priority Axis and Investment Priorities listed below to be undertaken by Ministries, Government Departments, Public Sector, Public Institutions and Public Administration including Government owned Companies. The call will close on Friday 14 th September at noon. Priority Axis 10 – 'Investing in a more environmentally-friendly society' Investment Priority (IP) 6i – Investing in the waste sector to meet the requirements of the Union's environmental acquis and to address needs, identified by the Member States, for investment that goes beyond those requirements. Investment Priority (IP) 6ii – Investing in the water sector to meet the requirements of the Union's environmental acquis and to address needs, identified by the Member States, for investment that goes beyond those requirements. The online application form for the submission of project proposals is available on http://eufunds.gov.mt/opencalls (PPCD section). Supporting documentation including the eligibility guidance notes, the detailed guidance notes and indicators guidance notes relating to this announcement are also available on http://eufunds.gov.mt/opencalls (PPCD section). Prospective applicants are encouraged to refer to Operational Programme I available on the above link and the eligibility guidance notes in order to check whether their proposals are eligible for funding through this call for funding proposals. Further information on this call and on the European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 may be obtained from http://eufunds.gov.mt. Any generic queries and requests to participate in Information Sessions related to this Call can be sent to PPCD's email: info.eufunds@gov.mt. Operational Programme I - European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020 "Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges" Project part-financed by the Cohesion Fund Co-financing rate: 85% European Union; 15% National Funds