Regulation (EC) No 444/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 May 2009 amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States

‘1 Passports and travel documents issued by Member States shall comply with the minimum security standards set out in the Annex. They shall be issued as individual documents. The Commission shall present a report on the requirements for children travelling alone or accompanied, crossing the external borders of the Member States not later than 26 June 2012 and propose, if necessary, appropriate initiatives in order to ensure a common approach regarding the rules for the protection of children crossing the external borders of the Member States.

2 Passports and travel documents shall include a highly secure storage medium which shall contain a facial image. Member States shall also include two fingerprints taken flat 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.

2a The following persons shall be exempt from the requirement to give fingerprints: (a) Children under the age of 12 years. The age limit of 12 years is provisional. The report referred to in Article 5a shall contain a review of the age limit, if necessary accompanied by a proposal to amend the age limit. Without prejudice to the consequences of the application of Article 5a, Member States which, in their national law adopted before 26 June 2009, provide for an age limit below 12 years may apply that limit during a transitional period until 4 years after 26 June 2009. However, the age limit during the transitional period may not be below 6 years of age; (b) persons, where fingerprinting is physically impossible.

2b Where fingerprinting of the designated fingers is temporarily impossible, Member States shall allow the fingerprinting of the other fingers. Where it is also temporarily impossible to take fingerprints of any of the other fingers, they may issue a temporary passport having a validity of 12 months or less.’;

1 The biometric identifiers shall be taken by qualified and duly authorised staff of the national authorities responsible for issuing passports and travel documents.

2 Member States shall collect biometric identifiers from the applicant in accordance with the safeguards laid down in the Council of Europe’s Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Member States shall ensure that appropriate procedures guaranteeing the dignity of the person concerned are in place in the event of there being difficulties in enrolling.’;

Additional technical specifications in accordance with international standards, including in particular the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), for passports and travel documents relating to the following shall be established in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 5(2): (a) additional security features and requirements, including enhanced anti-forgery, counterfeiting and falsification standards; (b) technical specifications for the storage medium of the biometric features and their security, including prevention of unauthorised access; (c) requirements for quality and common technical standards for the facial image and the fingerprints.’;

The Commission shall, not later than 26 June 2012, submit to the European Parliament and the Council a report based on a large scale and in-depth study carried out by an independent authority and supervised by the Commission, which shall examine the reliability and technical feasibility, including through an evaluation of the accuracy of the systems in operation, of using the fingerprints of children under the age of 12 for identification and verification purposes, including a comparison of the false rejection rates occurring in each Member State and, based on the results of that study, an analysis of the need for common rules regarding the matching process. If necessary, the report shall be accompanied by proposals to adapt this Regulation.’;

This Regulation shall enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.