Fingerprints on identity cards as from spring 2019

“Anyone getting a new identity card as from April 2019 will have to register his or her fingerprints.” Minister of the Interior Jan Jambon has prepared a bill to have the first identity cards with fingerprints circulating in spring 2019. “The roll-out will take place in waves until everyone has been processed. People will not have to go to the town hall just to have their fingerprints taken,” says Minister Jambon.

No general database

Furthermore, the introduction of an identity card with fingerprints does not mean that there will be a general database of fingerprints. The data may be kept for a maximum of three months. They will then be destroyed.