eID cards designated mandatory ID document for residents of Latvia starting 2023

Beginning in 2023, electronic identification cards (eID) will become mandatory identification documents for all residents of Latvia who have reached the age of 15, reports Latvian Public Broadcasting.

The Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry drafted legislative amendments to the Personal Identification Documents Law to transpose an EU regulation intended to enable secure cross-border electronic transactions within the bloc’s internal market. The regulation obliges all EU member states to ensure by September 2018 that people and businesses can use their own national eID schemes to access public services in other EU member states.

eID cards have to be made a primary form of identification to ensure that people can exercise their rights and fulfil obligations, receive public services from any member state and send and receive electronic documents.

“The eID card will be mandatory for all citizens and non-citizens of Latvia who have reached the age of 15,” the Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry noted. “Passports, meanwhile, will become an optional document people will be able to use as a travel document in countries where eID cards are not recognized as valid identification and travel documents.”

Azerbaijan began issuing biometrics-based electronic identity cards on September 1.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  e-ID  |  EU  |  facial recognition  |  fingerprint biometrics  |  identity document  |  Latvia