MEPs to vote on common security features for ID cards
New rules to curb document fraud will be discussed in plenary session on Wednesday and put to the vote on Thursday.
With at least 86 different versions of identity cards and 181 types of residence documents in circulation in the EU, the aim of the new rules is to deter the use of fraudulent documents that can also be used by criminals to enter the EU.
The updated rules, already agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators in February, would set common minimum security features for ID cards in the EU and make a facial image and two fingerprints stored on a chip in the card mandatory.
ID cards that do not meet these requirements would stop being valid when they expire (i.e. would be renewed with the new format) or at the latest 10 years after the application of the new rules. ID cards that do not have a machine-readable zone, such as Greek ID cards, would expire within five years.
Procedure: Ordinary legislative procedure
Vote: Thursday, 4 April