Complaint against the French govt to annul the biometric passport decree

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Two French associations, EDRi-member Imaginons un réseau internet solidaire
(IRIS) and Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH), have filed a complaint
against the French government before the highest administrative Court. They
ask the French Conseil d’État to annul the decree issued on 30 April 2008 by
the French government on biometric passports.

The associations consider the decree had been issued under an irregular
procedure by publishing the Opinion in the Official Journal 6 days after
the
decree had been published, instead of presenting them at the same time, as
required by law.

The provisions of the decree stipulate the collection of eight fingerprints
for passport applicants starting with 6 years old children and the creation
of a central biometric database for retaining and processing the collected
data.

IRIS and LDH argue that the nature, the quantity and the retaining period of
these data in a central database are disproportionate with regards to the
decree’s objectives, which remain the same as in the previous passport
decree of December 2005, where fingerprints were not required. Moreover,
they believe that the decree is violating the national as well as
international legislation regarding the protection of the personal data. It
also violates international legislation related to children.

The two associations link the requirements of this decree to the provisions
of the draft law on biometric ID cards currently being prepared. They state
that, if the decree is not annulled, the government would, under the pretext
of more easily issuing identity cards and passports, influence the debate in
the French Parliament on the biometric identity card project.

Biometric passport : IRIS and LDH ask the State Council to annul the decree
(only in French, 4.07.2008)
http://www.iris.sgdg.org/info-debat/comm-passeport0708.html

Common Press Release – IRIS and LDH (only in French, 4.07.2008)
http://www.iris.sgdg.org/info-debat/recours-passeport0708.pdf

Text of the legal complaint (only in French 4.07.2008)
http://www.iris.sgdg.org/info-debat/recours-passeport0708.pdf

EDRIgram: The French Government goes against CNIL in biometric passports
(21.05.2008)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number6.10/cnil-biometric-passports