EU Biometric Visa Plans come Unstuck

Major problems face the EU's attempts to introduce chips to visas. As Statewatch puts it:
- insertion of chips would lead to "collisions" with visa chips from other countries;
- ePassport chip would be "killed" by eVisa chip;
- current deadline cannot be met, proposal unworkable.

The EU proposal envisages putting a "contactless chip" into visas attached to passports. But this opens the way to collision between chips that other countries may stick into passports, or even passports that have chip integral to them. Collision is described as: 'the interference between various chips and the reading device, eg: due to the de-tuning of the resonance frequency, resulting in malfunction'.

'As the report puts it, if non-EU countries use "ePassports" (as the EU intends to do) and each visa has a biometric chip this:

"Will "kill" ePassport chip functionality"'

There are options in front of the Union that do not present "collision problems": "visa sticker and separate biometric visa smart card" and "visa sticker without chip, biometrics in "D barcode".

At the moment, countries are divided as to how to progress.

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch editor, comments: 'There is an element of imperial arrogance about the EU visa proposal to insert chips with biometrics in other countries' passports without thinking about whether or not they might want to have a say in the matter.'

Associated Link: Statewatch's updates on the story

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