EU Commission wants to digitize passports and bring them to smartphones

Individual checks at the Schengen external borders in Europe are to be intensified using digital travel documents. The EU Commission is proposing a regulation on the basis of which an app for the electronic transmission of travel data should be developed (“EU Travel App”).

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The passport must be stored in the app as a digital document (“ID Card”). Identity cards should also be able to be saved on mobile phones. “Digital travel documents are a digital version of the data stored in passports and identity cards”, The commission states,

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exception fingerprints

Information stored on the chip of a passport or ID card must be transferred to the app – from name to biometric photo, with the exception of fingerprints. These digital ID cards should then also be able to be stored in the planned European electronic identity wallet (EUDI). Civil rights activists criticize their implementation,

The Commission wants to develop the travel app in cooperation with the EU-LISA agency, which is responsible for large-scale IT projects. It should be available from 2030. It can be used by all EU citizens and third country nationals with a biometric passport or EU ID card to enter or leave the borders of the Schengen Area. The Commission assured on Tuesday that its use would remain “completely optional”. Use of digital travel documents is free.

The Commission explained that the app will make it possible to present travel plans and documents to border officials in advance, thereby reducing waiting times at border crossings. However, travelers must carry a physical document with them for passport control when crossing the external border.

encryption? Data security?

Travelers can create a digital travel document by scanning their physical passport or passport using the app on their mobile phone, The commission statesThe application checks “whether the document is genuine and whether the passenger’s face matches the facial image stored in the travel document.”

Strong encryption methods and consent rules aim to ensure data protection and IT security. However, the Commission only wishes to regulate the details in subsequent legal acts. In this country, Traffic Light has removed a clause criticized by ex-federal data protection officer Ulrich Kelber, according to which private entities cannot store e-passport data with biometric characteristics for travel processing at airports, for example. Should be given access to.

(vbr)