(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

–   having regard to the modified Commission proposal (COM(2006)0110)(1),

–   having regard to Article 63(3)(a) of the EC Treaty,

–   having regard to Article 67 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0157/2006),

–   having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

–   having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A6-0211/2007),

1.  Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2.  Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty;

3.  Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

4.  Calls for initiation of the conciliation procedure under the Joint Declaration of 4 March 1975 if the Council intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

5.  Calls on the Council to consult Parliament again if it intends to amend the Commission proposal substantially;

6.  Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and the Commission.

Text proposed by the Commission   Amendments by Parliament Amendment 1 RECITAL 3 (3)  The integration of biometric identifiers is an important step towards the use of new elements, which establish a more reliable link between the holder and the residence permit as an important contribution to ensuring that it is protected against fraudulent use. The specifications set out in the ICAO document No 9303 on machine readable visas should be taken into account. (3)  The integration of biometric identifiers is an important step towards the use of new elements, which establish a more reliable link between the holder and the residence permit as an important contribution to ensuring that it is protected against fraudulent use. Rigorous security standards equivalent to those laid down for national identity cards should be applied to the residence permit. Amendment 2 RECITAL 3 A (new) (3a)  The biometric features in the uniform residence permit should be used only for verifying the authenticity of the document and the identity of the holder by means of directly available comparable features when the residence permit is required to be produced by law. Amendment 3 RECITAL 5 (5)  This Regulation only lays down such specifications as are not secret; these specifications need to be supplemented by further specifications which may remain secret in order to prevent counterfeiting and falsifications and which may not include personal data or references to such data. Powers to adopt such supplementary specifications should be conferred to the Commission, who shall be assisted by the Committee established by Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) n°1683/95 of 29 May 1995 laying down a uniform format for visas. (5)  This Regulation only lays down such specifications as are not secret; these specifications need to be supplemented by further specifications which may remain secret in order to prevent counterfeiting and falsifications and which should not include personal data or references to such data. Powers to adopt such supplementary specifications should be conferred to the Commission, who shall be assisted by the Committee established by Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) n°1683/95 of 29 May 1995 laying down a uniform format for visas. Amendment 4 ARTICLE 1, POINT 2 Article 2, paragraph 1, point (d) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) d) technical specifications for the storage medium of the biometric features and the security thereof, including prevention of unauthorised access; d) technical specifications for the storage medium of the biometric features and the security thereof, in particular to safeguard the integrity, authenticity and confidentiality of those data as well as the use thereof in accordance with the purposes laid down in this Regulation, including prevention of unauthorised access; Amendment 5 ARTICLE 1, POINT 2 Article 2, paragraph 1, point (e) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) e) requirements for the quality of and common standards for the facial image and the fingerprint images. e) requirements for the quality of and common standards for the facial image and the fingerprint images, common obligations or requirements relating to the specificity of such images, a common methodology and best practices for their implementation, and fallback procedures for persons who do not have readable fingerprints or who might be wrongly identified; Amendment 6 ARTICLE 1, POINT 2 Article 2, paragraph 1, point (e a) (new) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) ea) appropriate procedures and specific rules for the protection of children whose biometric features are collected, especially where their fingerprints are taken. Amendment 7 ARTICLE 1, POINT 2 A (new) Article 2, paragraph 2 a (new) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) (2a)  In Article 2, the following paragraph 2a is added: "2a. The implementing measures adopted shall be regularly forwarded to the European Parliament." Amendment 8 ARTICLE 1, POINT 3 A (new) Article 3, paragraph 2 a (new) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) (3a)  In Article 3, the following paragraph is added: "Each Member State shall send to the Commission a list of competent authorities which are authorised to access the data on biometric features contained in the residence permits in accordance with this Regulation and any changes thereto. That list shall specify, for each authority, which data it may search and for what purposes. The Commission shall ensure the annual publication of the list in the Official Journal of the European Union and keep an updated list of competent authorities on its website." Amendment 9 ARTICLE 1, POINT 4 Article 4, paragraph 2 (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) No information in machine-readable form shall be included on the storage medium of the residence permit referred to in Article 4a, unless provided for in this Regulation or its Annex or unless it is mentioned in the related travel document by the issuing State in accordance with its national legislation. Member States may include in the residence permit an additional contact chip as set out in Part 16 of the annex to this Regulation for e-services such as e-government and e-business. No information in machine-readable form shall be included on the storage medium of the residence permit referred to in Article 4a, unless provided for in this Regulation or its Annex or unless it is mentioned in the related travel document by the issuing State in accordance with its national legislation. Amendment 10 ARTICLE 1, POINT 5 Article 4 a (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) The uniform format for residence permits shall include a storage medium containing facial image. Member States shall also include fingerprints in interoperable formats. The data shall be secured and the storage medium shall be of sufficient capacity and capability to guarantee the integrity, the authenticity and the confidentiality of the data. The uniform format for residence permits shall include a storage medium containing the facial image and two fingerprint images of the holder, all in interoperable formats. The data shall be secured and the highly secured storage medium shall be of sufficient capacity and capability to guarantee the integrity, the authenticity and the confidentiality of the data. Amendment 11 ARTICLE 1, POINT 5 A (new) Article 4 b, paragraph 1 (new) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) (5a)  The following Article 4b is inserted: "Article 4b 1.  The storage medium shall be used only by the authorities in the Member States, as listed pursuant to Article 3(2a), which have competence to read and store the biometric data." Amendment 12 ARTICLE 1, POINT 5 A (new) Article 4 b, paragraph 2 (new) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) 2.  The biometric data recorded on the storage medium may not be modified or erased by any authority. Where such a need arises, a new residence permit shall be issued. Amendment 13 ARTICLE 1, POINT 5 A (new) Article 4 b, paragraphs 3 and 4 (new) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) 3.  Decisions having substantial data protection implications, such as decisions on entering and accessing data, on the quality of data, on the technical compliance of storage media and on security measures for the protection of the biometric features shall be made by way of regulation with the full involvement of the European Parliament. 4.  The European Data Protection Supervisor shall have an advisory role in all cases having data protection implications. Amendment 14 ARTICLE 1, POINT 6 A (new) Article 9, paragraph 4 a (new) (Regulation (EC) No 1030/2002) (6a)  In Article 9, the following paragraph 4a is added: "Member States shall regularly forward to the Commission evaluations of the application of this Regulation based on commonly agreed standards, in particular as regards the rules limiting the purposes for which data may be used and the bodies which may have access to the data. They shall also communicate to the Commission all problems encountered in applying this Regulation and shall exchange best practices with the Commission and among themselves."

(1) Not yet published in OJ.