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The Chief-Executive-in-Council today (January 18) ordered that HKSAR biometric passports should be introduced in early 2007, having regard to the international trend for enhanced passport security.
"This will tie in with the first tide of applications for renewal of some 429,000 HKSAR passports issued in 1997," a spokesman of the Security Bureau said.
Following technical specifications prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to assist contracting members to implement a worldwide, standardised system of identity confirmation for travel documents, each HKSAR biometric passport will be embedded with a contactless integrated circuit chip containing the facial image and personal information of the holder as it appears on the biodata page of the passport.
Many countries will only include the mandatory ICAO requirement of a facial image in the chip to be embedded in the biometric passport, but some others may include fingerprint images as well.
"In line with the practice adopted in the US and the UK, there will be reserved capacity in the chip for the storage of a fingerprint image to accommodate possible changes of international standards in future," the spokesman said.
Explaining the need for issuing biometric passports, the spokesman said that following the September 11 terrorist attack, all contracting members of ICAO agreed to step up the integrity and security control of passports and other travel documents.
In the case of the US, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act 2002 requires, among other things, that countries whose citizens enjoy visa-free travel to the US must issue passports with biometric identifiers no later than October 26, 2004 if they wish to continue to enjoy the visa-free facility. The deadline was subsequently extended to October 26, 2005.
Apart from counter-terrorism, many economies see biometric passports as an effective tool to counter passport forgeries as well as illegal migration and other transnational crimes facilitated by passport frauds.
Major countries are likely to follow the US lead and impose similar entry requirements on those economies that wish to gain or retain visa-free access for their citizens. The European Union, for example, is actively considering similar new measures.
Over three million HKSAR passports have been issued so far. Currently 133 countries or territories grant visa-free access or visa on arrival to HKSAR passport holders.
"Failure on our part to incorporate biometric identifiers into the HKSAR passport would be likely to jeopardise visa-free treatment enjoyed by its holders and hamper our efforts to obtain visa-free access to more countries," the spokesman said.
"Early introduction of biometric HKSAR passports will be an effective demonstration of our resolve and ability to contribute to international efforts to counter terrorism, illegal immigration and forgery," he added.
Meanwhile, the existing computer system for issuing the conventional HKSAR passports and other travel documents will reach its life expectancy by 2007, when the system will become outdated and obsolete.
"Rather than ploughing substantial resources to upgrade this system to produce conventional HKSAR passports and other travel documents, we intend to develop and enhance the computer system for the processing and issuance of biometric HKSAR passports and other HKSAR travel documents," the spokesman said.
The Administration will arrange an early briefing for the LegCo Security Panel before consulting the LegCo Finance Committee on funding for the project.
Ends/Tuesday, January 18, 2005
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