As of: March 10, 2024, 5:07 a.m
By: Lennart Schwenck
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The ID card should become even more secure.
The federal government is using passport photos to prevent a particularly perfidious form of identity theft.
Berlin – New scams keep emerging.
It is particularly bad for those affected when criminals commit identity fraud and can then commit crimes under the names of their victims.
In order to provide better protection against this, the federal government has now decided to change the identity card.
From May 1, 2025, stricter rules regarding passport photos will apply to all newly issued ID cards in Germany.
This emerges from the “
Ordinance amending the Identity Card Ordinance, the Passport Ordinance, the Residence Ordinance and other regulations
”, which the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Homeland published on October 31, 2023.
New regulations for passport photos are intended to provide additional protection against identity theft
The current identity cards were introduced on November 1, 2010 on the basis of the law on identity cards and electronic proof of identity (Personalkartengesetz - PAuswG).
In addition to a chip, they also have other anti-counterfeit features, such as the watermark, a reflection of the federal eagle, the multi-colored guilloches and the holographic portrait.
For the latter, new regulations will be introduced next year.
The new ID card regulation is intended to make so-called morphing more difficult and thus offer more security against identity theft.
© Zoonar.com/stock photos-mg/IMAGO
The reason for the stricter regulations is to protect against identity theft through so-called “morphing”.
This allows “criminals to trick facial recognition systems by manipulating images so that two people could use the same passport,” according to the
Federal Ministry of Education and Research
.
Morphed passport photos are able to outsmart automatic border control systems, so-called Automated Border Control (ABC) gates, such as those used in border controls at airports.
From 2025, photographs will only be created digitally – either by the authorities or an authorized service provider
To counteract this, from May 1, 2025, photographs will only be created digitally and sent directly to the Citizens' Registration Office or the Immigration Office using a secure connection.
The entire sequence of technical steps is described in detail in the Technical Guideline TR-03170.
Transfer using a cloud service is planned, as is end-to-end encryption of the passport photos.
During the secure transfer, the suitability of the photo for biometrics is also checked.
After this date, citizens have the option of taking the passport photo either directly with the authorities or with an authorized service provider, such as a photographer.
However, it is also possible to take the passport photo when you go to the authorities on site for a fee of around six euros.
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