out to be impractical (e. g. in the evidence of poor illumination or haste of people), a verification based on fingerprints should be performed” 5 [BMI:2005e] Germany already launched the first version of the ePassport, thus earlier than specified by the EU ordinance. On 8th July 2005, the Federal Council of Germany finally approved the decision that was taken by the Federal Government to issue electronic passports from 1st November 2005 [BR:2005]. In the initial step now, the chip integrated in these passports is storing an electronic version of the bearer’s facial image. This image is to be identical with the photo printed on the data sheet [ICAO:2004d, p. 33]. Originally it was intended to store two fingerprints on the ePassport as of March 2007 [BMI:2005c]. But the date was re-scheduled to November 2007 [BMI:2007]. The fingerprints will not be printed on the paper part of the ePassport. Old passports without any biometric features and first generation ePassports storing only an electronic version of the facial image will keep their ten-year validity, even though passports issued from November 2007 are solely issued with additional electronic fingerprints [EU:2004, Art. 6]. The necessary changes to the law allowing to incorporate biometric features into German passports were already legislated in 2002 in the course of the Anti-Terror Act [BMI:2002b]. All border controls must be fully equipped with appropriate scanners, and this has recently been started and it is estimated that it shall be finished by 2008 [BSI:2005a]. According to an EU resolution [EU:2004], each EU member state may hold only one single authority to issue the electronic passports. In Germany, this authority is the Bundesdruckerei GmbH, the Federal Printing Office. The Philips AG and the Infineon Technologies AG, in this process, supply the RFID-chips meant for storing the biometric data [BMI:2005c]. Both the BSI and the BKA provide support to the Federal Printing Office in developing new security standards [BMI:2005d]. The last part of the process includes the Flexsecure AG, which is responsible for providing the software for operating the Country Signing Certification Authority (CSCA). There is still severe criticism from several sides concerning the launch of the ePassport – especially with respect to the way the decision-making process was carried out at both the European and federal levels. Chapter 5.6.3 deals with this subject and addresses the most common points of criticism. 5 Translated
from German.
10