EU: Biometrie-Einfuehrung im Schnelldurchgang - SIGN NOW

[Peter Kuhm <peter@null.priv.at>]

Organisationen und Individuen koennen noch bis morgen Dienstag 12:00
mitunterzeichnen: <http://www.edri.org/campaigns/biometrics/sign>


-> http://www.edri.org/campaigns/biometrics/0411

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An Open Letter to the European Parliament
on Biometric Registration of all EU Citizens and Residents

26 November, 2004 ...

To the Members of the European Parliament,

We the undersigned are calling on you to reject the 'Draft Council 
Regulation on standards for security features and biometrics in passports 
and travel documents issued by Member States'. This is an unnecessary and 
rushed policy that will have hazardous effects on Europeans' right to 
privacy. This policy process requires additional oversight, and the 
eventual systems established will require significant controls and a strong 
legal framework to ensure that this is a proportionate response to the war 
on terrorism. In particular, we call for the removal of the requirement for 
fingerprinting all EU citizens.

We are quite alarmed by the political dynamics at play in this policy 
decision.

o The Council of the European Union pressed the European Parliament into 
including the Coelho reports on biometric identifiers on the agenda for the 
mini-session on Wednesday, 1 December 2004.

o Behind closed doors on October 25 the Justice and Home Affairs Council 
decided to introduce mandatory fingerprinting for all EU citizens into the 
draft regulation.

o The Parliament's response to this significant shift in policy is even 
more alarming: a majority of the Presidents of the Political Groups 
acccepted the claim that the change was not sufficient grounds for the 
report to be sent back to the LIBE Committee for further consideration.

o If the Presidents had refused to accept, the Council would have called 
for an urgency procedure.

o If the Presidents had refused, the Council would have also delayed the 
introduction of the co-decision procedure for immigration and asylum issues 
to April 1 instead of January 1.

These dynamics are irresponsible and unhealthy for a functioning democratic 
system.

Securing our passports from fraudulent use is indeed a pressing need, 
particularly considering the substantial number of blank passports lost 
every year. The proposed policy that is being presented to you for review 
will however have significant implications. This policy is dependent on an 
unprepared and under-developed technological infrastructure. It will 
therefore lead to an increased risk of abuse.

We are calling on the European Parliament to reject this policy. The 
European Parliament needs to provide sunlight to this policy process 
through oversight and an open deliberative process.

We are calling on the European Parliament to reject this policy. The case 
still has not been made openly and clearly as to why biometric passports 
are required. There is a lack of adequate safeguards. We urge the 
Parliament to oppose the creation of an EU-wide database of personal data. 
We further urge the Parliament to oppose mandatory fingerprinting as an 
unnecessary and disproportionate act. Finally, we are calling on the 
Parliament to reserve the right to question the legal basis of the proposal.

[...]

Signed,

Gus Hosein - Privacy International

Tony Bunyan - Statewatch

Andreas Dietl - European Digital Rights

[...]

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