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Fingerprints to be compulsory in EU passports


The Council of Justice and Home Ministers is today expected to push for fingerprints to become mandatory, in addition to facial images, for all passports and travel documents issued by EU Member States, according to StateWatch.

The privacy watchdog notes that the biometric data will be held on national databases and on an EU-wide database of European Register for issued passports and be accessible by law enforcement agencies.

A previous draft of the Regulation from the Council of Justice and Home Ministers had proposed that only the facial image would be compulsory – and the second biometric would be optional.

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