WRITTEN QUESTION E-1067/02

by Glyn Ford (PSE) to the Commission

(17 April 2002)

Subject: Amendments to US immigration regulations and the potential ending of the visa waiver scheme for EU citizens

In view of the likely changes to US immigration regulations which, from the end of 2003, will require passports to include biometric data such as fingerprints and retinal patterns, etc. for participation in the visa waiver scheme, can the Commission estimate the likely impact of the ending of this scheme for EU citizens in the absence of any amendments to EU passport regulations, in terms of the full costs of obtaining visas and the likely impact on the volume of travel with respect to airlines, tourist operators and other businesses?

Joint answerto Written Questions E-1066/02, E-1067/02 and E-1068/02given by Mr Vitorino on behalf of the Commission

(11 June 2002)

In the Commission's working programme for 2000/2001, it was envisaged that the Commission would present a legislative proposal rendering travel documents more secure in particular the passport. However the question of an appropriate legal basis arose, because of an amendment introduced to Article 18 of the EC Treaty through the Treaty of Nice. In conformity with Resolution of the representatives of the governments of the Member States of 17 October 2000(1), Member States have introduced or intend to introduce new security standards in the most recent EU travel documents, respecting International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards, comprising, inter alia, the use of optically variable devices (OVD) and machine-readable features.

Regarding the relations with the United States, the Commission can provide the following information: Following the adoption of the so-called Patriot Act, essentially two requests are of concern for the Union's Member States:

(a) Countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program shall issue passports that are tamper-resistant and incorporate biometric identifiers that comply with applicable biometric identifiers standards established by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

The Commission understands there are no ICAO standards as yet on appropriate biometric data, except for the photograph. Of course, this question is also relevant for United States (US) passports. The US Administration is now investigating the use of biometrics (in particular facial recognition and fingerprints) for their own passports and will report to the Congress in October 2002. The Commission will follow closely the outcome of this investigation and any developments on which biometric data will be chosen for use in US passports.

(b) Travellers from countries on the Visa Waiver Program must be in possession of passports, which are machine-readable as from October 1, 2003. Nevertheless, under certain circumstances, the Secretary of State can waive this requirement for countries, which are making progress towards issuing machine-readable passports.

The most recent passports issued by Union's Member States are machine-readable. A problem could arise for bearers of old-format passports, which are not machine-readable. Member States might be compelled to accelerate the issuing of new passports to all their citizens, unless the US administration uses its power to waive this requirement until the validity of the old-style passports runs out.

(c) Nevertheless some changes are introduced by the Enhanced Border Security and visa entry reform Act of 2002 (version as enrolled on 8 May 2002) on and after October 26, 2004, any alien applying for admission under the visa waiver program under section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act shall present a passport that meets the requirements for tamper-resistance and incorporates biometric and document authentication identifiers that comply with applicable biometric and document identifying standards established by ICAO, unless the aliens passport was issued prior to that date.

Finally, as regards data protection, the Directive 95/46/EC of 24.10.95(2) on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data is applicable.

(1) OJ C 310, 20.10.2000.

(2) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995.