<http://news.com.com/2102-1012_3-5429679.html?tag=st.util.print> CNET News Europe opts for biometric pasports By Lars Pasveer http://news.com.com/Europe+opts+for+biometric+pasports/2100-1012_3-5429679.h... Story last modified October 27, 2004, 5:56 PM PDT Ministers for European Union member states agreed on Tuesday to adopt biometric passports. The first biometric passports are set to arrive in 18 months and initially will record the facial characteristics of the bearer. In three years, European travelers will also have to provide a fingerprint for the passport. The facial and fingerprint data will be stored on an embedded chip, along with a digital copy of the bearer's photo. The decision, made at a meeting of interior ministers in Luxembourg, is not yet final. Austria, Finland and the Netherlands have voiced minor concerns about the proposal, but they will probably not turn out to be insurmountable obstacles. The European push for biometrics is heavily influenced by a United States policy change for passports for people from "visa waiver" countries after the Sept. 11 attacks. U.S. plans to introduce a biometric passport requirement by this fall for these countries were widely seen as unrealistic. However, by Oct. 26 next year, all visitors from these countries will have to provide a machine-readable passport with biometric data. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'