More and more Dutch municipalities are considering investing in face scanners. Residents applying for a new passport must have themselves scanned by this device. Based on the scan, the software checks whether the person standing in front of the scanner is the same person as in the passport photo of the old ID.
reports NOS (1).
We now see facial scanners mainly at airports to check incoming passengers. In the near future, we may also see them at the front desk of the civil affairs department. The municipalities of Almere and Utrechtse Heuvelrug, among others, are considering purchasing a face scanner and using it for residents who want to renew their passport or driver's license. This is because they are increasingly faced with identity fraud. With a face scanner they want to put a stop to this.
A face scanner works as follows. First, an official checks the authenticity of the old passport or driver's license. Once authenticity is established, the face of the person who wants to renew their ID or apply for a driver's license is scanned. The software verifies that the person standing in front of the counter is actually the person he is pretending to be. Finally, the application or renewal procedure continues.
The question is whether the plans violate European privacy laws. A facial scan falls under the category of special personal data. These are data that, if they get into the wrong hands, affect your privacy in the most far-reaching sense of the word. After all, they can be used to identify you and others. Not for nothing are special personal data subject to very strict rules and organizations must handle them with extreme care.
A spokesman for the Utrechtse Heuvelrug municipality confirms that important choices still need to be made, for example about the retention period of facial scans. He cannot say when the municipality will introduce the system. He does say that tests will be conducted before the municipality proceeds to purchase a face scanner.
The Dutch Association for Civil Affairs (NVVB) tells NOS that more municipalities are toying with the idea of purchasing face scanners. However, according to the interest group, there is no legal basis yet to use these systems to extend passports and driver's licenses.
A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations says that municipalities may purchase a face scanner "on their own initiative and responsibility." He points out that municipalities are required to conduct a risk analysis before being allowed to work with the system.
Identity fraud with passports has long been a thorn in the side of the Cabinet. In the summer of 2022, State Secretary for Digitalization Alexandra van Huffelen acknowledged that the systems used by municipalities to issue passports contained "structural errors" (2). By bribing corrupt officials, criminals were able to obtain fake passports. With this, they stayed under the radar and fled abroad undetected to continue their criminal activities.
The State Secretary came up with various measures (3) to combat the issue of false passports. For example, the 'four-eyes principle' was introduced, desk clerks are required to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG), supervision has become stricter and less non-committal, there is an obligation to report municipalities where passports have disappeared, and municipalities must keep accurate records of the number of passports they have in house and how many they issue. The latter is also known as "vault hygiene.
https://nos.nl/artikel/2512680-gemeenten-willen-gezichtsscan-bij-nieuw-paspoort-om-identiteitsfraude-tegen-te-gaan
https://www.vpngids.nl/nieuws/systemen-voor-uitgifte-paspoorten-bevatten-structurele-fouten/
https://www.vpngids.nl/nieuws/kabinet-wil-meldplicht-voor-gemeenten-die-paspoorten-kwijt-zijn/
