As of 1 August 2021, the Police and Border Guard Board will be issuing new ID-cards which are equipped with biometric personal data according to the ICAO Doc 9303-1 specification (https://www.icao.int/publications/Documents/9303_p1_cons_en.pdf). The new ID-card version will also come with some changes, due to which developers may be required to complement their systems.
What exactly is changing?
Pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/1157 of the European Parliament and of the Council (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019R1157&from=EN), the chips of the ID-cards to be issued as of 1 August 2021 will be equipped with fingerprints. So far, a separate online inquiry had to be submitted in order to obtain an image of the individual; now, however, the image is located on the chip of the card.
The main changes which may be important for developers:
- A separate branch has been added to the card which can be used to read biometric data.
- The platform version will be updated to Cosmo v8.2 (previously Cosmo v8.1).
- The PD9 field of the DF personal data file will change. While the field previously included the data and place of issuance, it will now specify the issuance date and authority.
The technical specification for developers has also been updated. The changes made in the new card and the respective examples have been added to the previous version of the document.