Yanukovych signs law on biometric passports (Kyiv Post)
The document foresees the introduction of electronic passports containing electronic chips with biometric information for traveling abroad, according to standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).I was going to write the post title as "Ukraine: New passport law, no biometrics for now," but ID photos are biometrics.
According to the law, the passports of Ukrainian citizens will be produced in the form of cards with contactless smart chips and issued no later than 30 calendar days from the date of the submission of a relevant application. The electronic passports will include the name of the state, the name of the document, the full name of the holder, the holder's gender, citizenship, date of birth, and a unique number in the register, the number of the document, the date of the document's expiry, the date of issue of the document, the name of the agency that issued the document, the place of birth, a photo and the signature of the holder.
UPDATE:
This press release says that the Ukraine passport will, in fact, contain fingerprints. It states, in part:
Ukraine approved the introduction of electronic IDs and creation of the state demographic register in the country. The relevant law, signed today by President Yanukovych, will take effect on January 1st, 2013. It stipulates the introduction of the documents for traveling abroad that have a built-in proximity chip with registry information on the holder. The IDs will comply with the standards recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
It will take 30 days to produce such an ID, which will hold information about name, sex, citizenship, birth date and place of residence of a person, their photo, signature, and additional biometric data, as well as issue and expiration dates. The law clarifies that digitalized signature and photograph of a person's face constitute main biometric data, while digitalized fingerprints are additional biometric data. [emphasis mine]
Aside from buttressing the point made above about that face photos are biometrics, the release strongly hints that fingerprint biometrics will be a part of the new passport. If that's the case, the fact was omitted from yesterday's Kyiv Post piece. Perhaps the press release contains enough ambuguity to interpret both pieces as accurate.
We'll keep an eye out for new information.
