07 Aug Belgian Privacy Commission Disapproved Law Storing Fingerprints for 20 Years
Belgium — News last Sunday reports that a legislative change involving collection of personal information for Belgian passports was blocked by the state’s Privacy Commission. The opposed law was against the storage of travelers’ fingerprints for 20 years.
The proposal, drafted by the Foreign Affairs SPF, was intended to amend a 2015 policy that required automation of personal information for Belgian travel files and passports. It specified storing fingerprints for 20 years in an effort to fight identity fraud.
Foreign Affairs SPF asked for this arrangement, reasoning that facial recognition technology was not accurate in identifying information processed in prior applications.
However, the Commission stated that keeping fingerprint data for a long time could compromise Belgium thousands of citizens that apply for a passport every year.
The Commission concluded it unnecessary to involve a vast percentage of the Belgian public that were not implicated in operations related to fraud.
Source: The Brussels Times
