Council Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 of 13 December 2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States
Date: 2004-12-13
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: biometrics, forgery of documents, passport, public safety, technical standard

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I

(Acts whose publication is obligatory)

COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2252/2004

of 13 December 2004

on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by
Member States

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty
Community, and in particular Article 62(2)(a) thereof,

establishing the European

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (2),

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

The European Council of Thessaloniki, on 19 and 20
June 2003, confirmed that a coherent approach is
needed in the European Union on biometric identifiers
or biometric data for documents
third country
nationals, European Union citizens’ passports and infor-
mation systems (VIS and SIS II).

for

for

Minimum security
passports were
standards
introduced by a Resolution of the representatives of the
Governments of the Member States, meeting within the
Council, on 17 October 2000 (3). It is now appropriate
to upgrade this Resolution by a Community measure in
order to achieve enhanced harmonised security standards
for passports and travel documents to protect against
the same time biometric identifiers
falsification. At
should
travel
in the passport or
document in order to establish a reliable link between
the genuine holder and the document.

integrated

be

(3)

The harmonisation of security features and the inte-
gration of biometric identifiers is an important step
towards the use of new elements in the perspective of
future developments at European level, which render the

travel document more secure and establish a more
reliable link between the holder and the passport and
the travel document as an important contribution to
ensuring that it is protected against fraudulent use. The
specifications of the International Civil Aviation Organi-
in
sation (ICAO), and in particular
Document
travel
on machine
documents, should be taken into account.

those set out

readable

9303

This Regulation is limited to the harmonisation of the
security features including biometric identifiers for the
passports and travel documents of the Member States.
The designation of the authorities and bodies authorised
to have access to the data contained in the storage
medium of documents is a matter of national legislation,
subject to any relevant provisions of Community law,
European Union law or international agreements.

This Regulation should lay down only such specifications
that are not secret. These specifications need to be
supplemented by specifications which may remain
secret in order to prevent the risk of counterfeiting and
falsifications. Such additional
specifications
should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision
1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the
procedures for
implementing powers
the exercise of
conferred on the Commission (4).

technical

The Commission should be assisted by the Committee
established by Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No
1683/95 of 29 May 1995 laying down a uniform format
for visas (5).

than

In order to ensure that the information referred to is not
made available to more persons than necessary, it is also
essential that each Member State should designate not
responsibility
more
for
documents, with
producing
and
Member States remaining free to change the body,
if
need be. For
security reasons, each Member State
should communicate the name of the competent body
to the Commission and the other Member States.

one
passports

having
travel

body

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(1) OJ C 98, 23.4.2004, p. 39.
(2) Opinion of 2.12.2004 (not yet published in the Official Journal).
(3) OJ C 310, 28.10.2000, p. 1.

(4) OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23.
(5) OJ L 164, 14.7.1995, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by the 2003

Act of Accession.

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the European Parliament and of

(8) With regard to the personal data to be processed in the
context of passports and travel documents, Directive
95/46/EC of
the
Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of indi-
viduals with regard to the processing of personal data
and on the free movement of such data (1) applies. It
should be ensured that no further information shall be
stored in the passport unless provided for in this Regu-
lation, its annex or unless it is mentioned in the relevant
travel document.

(9)

(10)

(11)

of

objective

common

In accordance with the principle of proportionality, it is
necessary and appropriate for the achievement of the
basic
security
introducing
standards and interoperable biometric identifiers to lay
down rules for all Member States giving effect to the
Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement of
14 June 1985 (2). This Regulation does not go beyond
is necessary in order to achieve the objectives
what
pursued,
in accordance with the third paragraph of
Article 5 of the Treaty.

In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of the Protocol on
the position of Denmark annexed to the Treaty on
European Union and to the Treaty establishing the
European Community, Denmark is not taking part in
the adoption of this Regulation and is not bound by it
or subject to its application. Given that this Regulation
builds upon the Schengen acquis under the provisions of
the Treaty establishing the
Title IV of Part Three of
European Community, Denmark will,
in accordance
with Article 5 of
the said Protocol, decide within a
period of six months after the Council has adopted this
implement it in its national
Regulation whether it will
law.

take part,

This Regulation constitutes a development of provisions
of the Schengen acquis in which the United Kingdom
does not
in accordance with Council
Decision 2000/365/EC of 29 May 2000 concerning the
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
request of
Northern Ireland to take part in some of the provisions
the Schengen acquis (3). The United Kingdom is
of
therefore not
in its adoption and is not
taking part
bound by it or subject to its application.

Ireland is therefore not taking part in its adoption and is
not bound by it or subject to its application.

(13) As

a

of

of

Iceland

regards

provisions

development

and Norway,

this Regulation
constitutes
the
Schengen acquis within the meaning of the Agreement
concluded by the Council of the European Union and
the Republic of Iceland and the Kingdom of Norway
concerning the association of those two States with the
implementation, application and development of
the
Schengen acquis (5) which fall within the area referred to
in Article 1(B) of Council Decision 1999/437/EC of 17
May 1999 on certain arrangements for the application of
that Agreement (6).

(14) As regards Switzerland,

this Regulation constitutes a
development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis
within the meaning of the Agreement signed between
the European Union, the European Community and the
Swiss Confederation concerning the association of the
Swiss Confederation with the implementation, appli-
the Schengen acquis (7),
cation and development of
which fall
in the area referred to in Article 1(B) of
Decision 1999/437/EC read in conjunction with Article
4(1) of the Council Decisions of 25 October 2004 on
the signing on behalf of the European Union, and on the
signing on behalf of the European Community, and on
the provisional application of certain provisions of that
Agreement (8),

HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

1.
Passports and travel documents issued by Member States
shall comply with the minimum security standards set out in
the Annex.

Passports and travel documents shall

include a storage
2.
medium which shall contain a facial
image. Member States
shall also include fingerprints in interoperable formats. The
data shall be secured and the storage medium shall have
sufficient capacity and capability to guarantee the integrity,
the authenticity and the confidentiality of the data.

(12)

This Regulation constitutes a development of provisions
of the Schengen acquis in which Ireland does not take
part, in accordance with Council Decision 2002/192/EC
of 28 February 2002 concerning Ireland’s request to take
part in some of the provisions of the Schengen acquis (4).

3.
This Regulation applies to passports and travel documents
issued by Member States. It does not apply to identity cards
issued by Member States to their nationals or to temporary
passports and travel documents having a validity of 12
months or less.

(1) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31. Directive as amended by Regulation

(EC) No 1882/2003 (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).

(2) OJ L 239, 22.9.2000, p. 19. Convention at last amended by Regu-

lation (EC) No 871/2004 (OJ L 162, 30.4.2004, p. 29).

(5) OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 36.
(6) OJ L 176, 10.7.1999, p. 31.
(7) Council document 13054/04 accessible on:

http://register.consilium.eu.int

(3) OJ L 131, 1.6.2000, p. 43.
(4) OJ L 64, 7.3.2002, p. 20.

(8) Council document 13464/04 and 13466/04 accessible on:

http://register.consilium.eu.int

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Article 2

technical

Additional
for passports and travel
documents relating to the following shall be established in
accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5(2):

specifications

(a) additional
enhanced
standards;

security features and requirements
anti-forgery,

counterfeiting

and

including
falsification

(b) technical specifications for

biometric features and their security,
of unauthorised access;

the storage medium of

the
including prevention

(c) requirements for quality and common standards for the

facial image and the fingerprints.

Article 3

In accordance with the procedure referred to in Article
1.
it may be decided that the specifications referred to in
5(2)
Article 2 shall be secret and not be published. In that case,
they shall be made available only to the bodies designated by
the Member States as responsible for printing and to persons
duly authorised by a Member State or the Commission.

Each Member State shall designate one body having
2.
responsibility for printing passports and travel documents. It
shall communicate the name of that body to the Commission
and the other Member States. The same body may be
designated by two or more Member States. Each Member
State shall be entitled to change its designated body. It shall
inform the Commission and the other Member States
accordingly.

Article 4

1. Without prejudice to data protection rules, persons to
whom a passport or travel document is issued shall have the
right to verify the personal data contained in the passport or
travel document and, where appropriate, to ask for rectification
or erasure.

No information in machine-readable

form shall be
2.
included in a passport or travel document unless provided for
in this Regulation, or its Annex, or unless it is mentioned in the
passport or travel document by the issuing Member State in
accordance with its national legislation.

3.
For the purpose of this Regulation, the biometric features
in passports and travel documents shall only be used for veri-
fying:

(a)

the authenticity of the document;

(b) the identity of the holder by means of directly available
comparable features when the passport or other travel
documents are required to be produced by law.

Article 5

The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee set

1.
up by Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1683/95.

2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and
7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply.

The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC
shall be set at two months.

3.

The Committee shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Article 6

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following
that of
the European
Union.

its publication in the Official

Journal of

Member States shall apply this Regulation:

(a) as regards the facial image: at the latest 18 months

(b) as regards fingerprints: at the latest 36 months

following the adoption of the measures referred to in Article 2.
However, the validity of passports and travel documents already
issued shall not be affected.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in the Member States in
accordance with the Treaty establishing the European Community.

Done at Brussels, 13 December 2004.

For the Council
The President

B. R. BOT

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ANNEX

MINIMUM SECURITY STANDARDS OF PASSPORTS AND TRAVEL DOCUMENTS ISSUED BY THE MEMBER
STATES

This Annex lays down the minimum level of security that the Member States’ passports and travel documents are required
to provide. The provisions in this Annex are concerned primarily with the biographical data page. The generic security
features also apply to the other parts of passports and travel documents.

Introduction

The biographical data page may consist of various basic materials. This Annex specifies the minimum level of security for
the specific material that is used.

The paper used for those sections of the passport or travel document giving personal particulars or other data shall meet
the following minimum requirements:

1. Material

— no optical brighteners,

— duotone watermarks,

— security reagents to guard against attempts at tampering by chemical erasure,

— coloured fibres (partly visible and partly fluorescent under UV light, or invisible and fluorescent in at least two

colours),

— UV-fluorescent planchettes are recommended (mandatory for stickers),

— the use of security thread is recommended.

If the biographical data page is in sticker form, the watermark in the paper used for that page may be dispensed with. The
watermark may also be dispensed with in the paper used for the inside of the passport or travel document covers.
Security reagents are required on the inside covers only if data are entered there.

Stitching thread should be protected against substitution.

If a card for inserting personal data in the passport or travel document is made entirely of a synthetic substrate, it is not
usually possible to incorporate the authentication marks used in passport or travel document paper. In the case of stickers
and cards, the lack of marks in the materials shall be compensated for by measures in respect of security printing, use of
an anti copying device, or an issuing technique according to sections 3, 4 and 5 over and above the following minimum
standards.

The passport or travel document shall contain a machine-readable biographical data page, which shall comply with Part 1
(machine-readable passports) of ICAO Document 9303 and the way they are issued shall comply with the specifications
for machine-readable passports set out therein.

2. Biographical data page

The portrait of the holder shall also appear on this page and shall not be affixed but integrated into the material of the
biographical data page by the issuing techniques referred to in Section 5.

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The biographical data shall be entered on the page following the title page in the passport or travel document. In any
event, an inside cover page must no longer be used for biographical data.

The layout of the biographical data page shall be such that it is distinguishable from the other pages.

The following printing techniques shall be used:

3. Printing techniques

A. Background printing:

— two-tone guilloches or equivalent structures,

— rainbow colouring, where possible fluorescent,

— UV-fluorescent overprinting,

— effective anti-counterfeiting and anti-falsification motifs (especially on the biographical data page) with optional use

of microprinting,

— reagent inks must be used on paper passport or travel document pages and stickers,

— if the paper of the passport or travel document is well protected against attempts at tampering, the use of reagent

inks is optional.

B. Form printing

With integrated microprinting (unless already included in background printing).

C. Numbering

On all pages inside the passport or travel document a unique document number should be printed (where possible
with a special style of figures or typeface and in UV-fluorescent ink), or perforated or, in passport cards, a unique
document number should be integrated using the same technique as for the biographical data. It is recommended that
in passport cards the unique document number is visible on both sides of the card. If a sticker is used for biographical
data the unique document number should be printed using fluorescent ink, and a special style of figures or typeface is
obligatory.

If stickers or non-laminated paper inside pages are used for biographical data, intaglio printing with latent image
effect, microtext and ink with optically variable properties and a DOVID (diffractive optically variable image device)
shall also be employed. Additional optically variable security devices shall also be used on passport cards made entirely
of a synthetic substrate, at least through the use of a DOVID or equivalent measures.

4. Protection against copying

An optically variable (OVD) or equivalent device, which provides for the same level of identification and security as
currently used in the uniform format for visas, shall be used on the biographical data page and shall take the form of
diffractive structures which vary when viewed from different angles (DOVID) incorporated into the hot-sealed or an
equivalent laminate (as thin as possible) or applied as an OVD overlay, or, on stickers or a non-laminated paper inside
page, as metallised or partially de-metallised OVD (with intaglio overprinting) or equivalent devices.

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The OVD devices should be integrated into the document as an element of a layered structure, effectively protecting
against forgery and falsification. In documents made of paper, they should be integrated over as wide a surface as possible
as an element of the hot-sealed or an equivalent laminate (as thin as possible) or applied as a security overlay, as described
in section 5. In documents made of a synthetic substrate, they should be integrated in the card layer over as wide a
surface as possible.

If a synthetic card is personalised by laser engraving, and an optically variable laser written device is incorporated therein,
the diffractive OVD shall be applied at least in the form of a positioned metallised or transparent DOVID, to achieve
enhanced protection against reproduction.

If a biographical data page is made of a synthetic substrate with paper core, the diffractive OVD shall be applied at least in
the form of a positioned metallised or transparent DOVID, to achieve enhanced protection against reproduction.

To ensure that passport or travel document data are properly secured against attempts at counterfeiting and falsification,
biographical data including the holder’s portrait, the holder's signature and main issue data shall be integrated into the
basic material of the document. Conventional methods of attaching the photograph shall no longer be used.

5. Issuing technique

The following issuing techniques may be used:

— laser printing,

— thermotransfer,

— ink-jet printing,

— photographic,

— laser-engraving that effectively penetrates into the card layers bearing the security characteristics.

To ensure that biographical and issue data are adequately protected against attempts at tampering, hot-seal or equivalent
lamination (as thin as possible) with an anti-copying device is compulsory where laser printing, thermo-transfer or
photographic techniques are used.

Travel documents shall be issued in machine-readable form. The layout of the biographical data page shall follow the
specifications given in part 1 of ICAO Document 9303, and the issuing procedures shall meet the specifications it sets for
machine-readable documents.