IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

With the government planning to start the issuance of biometric identity cards this fiscal, National ID Management Centre has stepped up its work to meet the target.

NIDMC, established under the Home Ministry to deal with the ID cards, has already completed orientation classes for computer operators at 75 districts administration offices.

According to NIDMC executive director Narendra Dahal, the centre has also conducted training for chief districts officers and Local Development Officers regarding the IDs. It has been allocating laptop computers to 38 district administration offices to store citizenship data which will be used in the ID.

NIDMC, established under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has selected four international consultants and sent the decision to Asian Development Bank for its approval as ADB is funding the project together with the Nepal government. According to officials at the centre, among the four consultants, one will be selected in a couple of days.

The consultant will be hired for 20 months and will be responsible for preparing the report to determine and provide suggestions on different technological aspects.

On January 17, 2011, the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government had endorsed an initial draft of the NID bill which was floated to the cabinet by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).

The National Identity Management Centre (NIDMC) established under the ministry to deal with political and technical issues related to the project.

“The NID bill required to set the legal framework for the project has been gathering dust at the Ministry of Law after Law Minister rejected the bill saying it has controversial clauses related to citizenship in the Tarai. The Detailed Progress Report (DPR) has also been delayed,” said the source.

After almost a year of wrangling with the Ministry of Law and Justice over approval of the draft bill of National Identity (NID) Card, the National Identity Management Centre (NIDMC) has finally sent a proposal to the Cabinet for the NID Act.

The multimillion-dollar NID project aims to provide multipurpose biometric machine readable cards to all citizens in place of handwritten citizenship cards.

The RealMe service, to be offered jointly by the Department of Internal Affairs and New Zealand Post, is designed with data security and privacy as its top priorities. All users will have full control over their personal information – including their name, date of birth, gender, and address.

It is trialling a hi-tech system that takes passport and digital photos in 14 of its Postshops, including its Manners St branch in central Wellington.

The software behind the system could also let NZ Post capture fingerprints and voice samples for identification purposes.

Since January 2011, approximately 440 people have been checked by INZ using this system. Of these checks, 101 matches were received including people who were matched by more than one country.

Thirty-seven matches were able to provide vital identity fraud information, concealed criminal history or immigration fraud intelligence to Immigration New Zealand.

Group Manager Airports, Phil Chitty says SmartGate is a stress-free way for New Zealand and Australian ePassport holders to enter both countries, or leave New Zealand. All they need is their ePassport – the two-step SmartGate will do the rest.

The new system is just being trialed in 14 of the 280 brick and mortar Postshops across the country, but the head of the agency’s services, Mandy Smith, expects that a successful trial could result in another 150 shops receiving the systems with an implementation cost in the low millions of dollars.

Oman’s Bank Muscat launched bio-metric identification system with the help of Royal Oman Police (ROP).

The biometric system compatible with the Sultanate’s national identification card (NID) is the first of its kind in the banking sector in Oman.

The unique biometric identification system available across the bank’s network of 139 branches provides the latest solution in national identity for banking services. Aimed at improving efficiency and speed of transaction processing, the NID enables accurate data capture during banking transactions, especially when opening new accounts.

Innenminister Ernst Strasser [ÖVP] geht davon aus, dass ab Ende 2005 mit der Aufnahme von biometrischen Merkmalen in den Reisepass begonnen werden kann.

Neue Reisedokumente werden schon ab kommendem Jahr mit Fingerabdrücken versehen. Die entsprechende Novelle zum Passgesetz werde in den nächsten Tagen in Begutachtung geschickt, kündigte Innenminister Günther Platter [ÖVP] an. Ebenfalls geplant ist die Einführung eines Jugendpasses für Bürger bis zum 16. Lebensjahr.

Bei seinen Treffen mit US-Justizminister John Ashcroft und dem Minister für Heimatschutz, Tom Ridge, sowie hohchrangigen CIA-Vertretern legte Innenminister Ernst Strasser den aktuellen österreichischen Standpunkt zum Thema Biometrie in Reisepässen dar

Der Nationalrat hat am Mittwoch die Novelle zum Passgesetz verabschiedet, mit der die Fingerprint-Pässe eingeführt werden. Österreich entspricht damit einer entsprechenden Verordnung der EU. Sprecher von ÖVP, SPÖ, FPÖ und BZÖ befürworteten die Novelle, ebenso die zuständige Innenministerin Maria Fekter (ÖVP). Die Grünen äußerten Zweifel daran, ob die Integration zweier Fingerabdrücke in die E-Pässe zur Bekämpfung des Terrorismus beitrage.

Digitalisierte Fingerabdrücke

"Die Dokumente sollen mit biometrischen Identifikatoren - etwa digitalisierten Passfotos und Fingerabdrücken - versehen sein und ab Herbst ausgegeben werden", so "profil". Dieser Auftrag habe ein jährliches Volumen von mindestens acht Millionen Euro.

Vizekanzler und Infrastrukturminister Hubert Gorbach [FPÖ] sieht sich in seiner Forderung nach Einführung biometrischer Daten in Reisepässen von einer am Freitag präsentierten Fessel-GfK-Umfrage bestärkt.