Farewell to identity cardat least as we know it. The European Union has decided to retire the old documents and replace them with cards more similar to credit cards. Objective: reduce the risk of forgery and fraud.
In detail, a new regulation adopted by the EU Council introduces common minimum requirements for community identity cards, in order to make them more secure. On new documents they will appear the coat of arms of the European flag and, inside it, the state code who issued the card.
Not only that: there will also be an optical reading area, a photo and two fingerprints of the owner, stored in digital format on a microchip. To ensure that electronically supplied data is protected and cannot be stolen, national authorities will have to guarantee the security of the microchip and the data it contains, so that they cannot be hacked or accessed without authorisation.
The new rules will enter into force two years after the adoption of the regulation by the governmentswhich means that by that date all new documents will have to meet the new criteria.
E old paper ID cards that many people still have in their wallet? Their elimination will take place gradually: they will cease to be valid 10 years after the date of application of the new rules or on expiry, whichever is earlier.
As it regards instead identity cards that already circulate in card format without meeting the minimum security standardswill expire within five years.
The new documents will be valid minimum of five years and maximum of 10. However, there are some exceptions: the Member States will be able to issue the document with a longer period of validity to those over 70, while for minors it may be less than five years.
