French national identity card
Encyclopedia
The national identity card (Carte nationale d’identité sécurisée or CNIS) of France
is an official non-compulsory identity document
consisting of a laminated plastic card bearing a photograph, name and address.
Identity cards, valid for a period of 10 years, are issued by the local préfecture
, sous-préfecture
, mairie
(in France) or in French consulates (abroad) and are free of charge. A fingerprint
of the holder is taken, which is stored in paper files and which can only be accessed by a judge
in closely defined circumstances. A central database
duplicates the information on the card, but strict laws limit access to the information and prevent it being linked to other databases or records.
The cards may be used to verify identity and nationality and may also be used for travel within the European Union
and certain other countries such as FYROM, instead of a passport
. The cards are widely used for other purposes - for example when opening a bank account, or when making a payment by cheque
.
, national identity cards were first issued as the carte d'identité des Français the under the law of October 27, 1940, and were compulsory for everyone over the age of 16. A central record was also instituted. From 1942 French Jews had the word "Jew" added to their card in red, which helped the Vichy
authorities identify 76,000 for deportation as part of the Holocaust
.
Under the decree 55-1397 of October 22 1955 a revised non-compulsory card, the carte nationale d'identité (CNI) was introduced, and the central records abandoned. With the introduction of lamination in 1988 it was renamed the carte nationale d’identité sécurisée (CNIS) (secure national identity card). In 1995 the cards were made machine-readable. It became free in 1998.
Daniel Vaillant
in 2001, plans have been proposed to introduce a new identity card, the INES (carte d'identité nationale électronique sécurisée) or 'secure electronic national identity card', to be implemented from around 2007. Similar to a credit card
, it is likely that this will contain biometric fingerprint and photograph data on a chip (also recorded on a central database
). The scheme has many similarities to the British national identity card and National Identity Register
created by the Identity Card Act of 30 March 2006.
The official agency in charge of data use monitoring, the 'national commission for computing and liberties' (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés or CNIL
) has no official position since the project hasn't been officially submitted yet. CNIL was itself created (in 1978) to guard against the infringement of liberty that might result from the use of information technology
, as a result of the public outcry over other plans in the 1970s to issue a 'national identity number' to each citizen, linked to the records of all Government agencies (which would have been similar to the existing numbers in many other European countries: Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Estonia, etc.).
to conduct a public debate on the Internet and throughout the French Regions. The FDI focused on the critics.
The FDI reported to Villepin's successor, Nicolas Sarkozy
, on June 16, 2005, stating that 74% were in favour of the cards, 75% in favour of a fingerprint database, and 63% in favour of compulsion. They did, however, make a number of recommendations to change aspects of the proposals.
In response to the Government's debate, a group of French bodies initiated a report and petition against the plans. Founded by the Human Rights League (Ligue des droits de l'Homme), Magistrates' Union (Syndicat de la Magistrature), French Lawyers' Union (Syndicat des Avocats de France), the 'Imagine a United Internet Association' (association Imaginons un Réseau Internet Solidaire), the Group for Rights and Liberties in the face of the Computerisation of Society (intercollectif Droits Et Libertés face à l’Informatisation de la Société) and the French Democratic Lawyers Association (Association française des juristes démocrates), the group submitted an alternative report and petition. This states that:
Over 1000 organisations and individuals backed the report's conclusions. By then end of January 2006 this had risen to over 68 groups and organisations, and over 6,000 individuals.
The Senate named a commission. Its 2005 report pointed the need to fight the existing fraud by a new identity card system which should also protect freedom and privacy.
A new project, taking into account the criticism and suggestions made in 2005, is under study.
The format of the second row is:
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
is an official non-compulsory identity document
Identity document
An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
consisting of a laminated plastic card bearing a photograph, name and address.
Identity cards, valid for a period of 10 years, are issued by the local préfecture
Préfecture
A prefecture in France can refer to :*the Chef-lieu de département, the town in which the administration of a department is located;*the Chef-lieu de région, the town in which the administration of a region is located;...
, sous-préfecture
Sous-préfecture
Subprefectures are the administrative towns of arrondissements in France that do not contain the prefecture for its department. Subprefecture is also the name given to the building which houses the administrative headquarters for the arrondissement....
, mairie
Seat of local government
In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
(in France) or in French consulates (abroad) and are free of charge. A fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
of the holder is taken, which is stored in paper files and which can only be accessed by a judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
in closely defined circumstances. A central database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
duplicates the information on the card, but strict laws limit access to the information and prevent it being linked to other databases or records.
The cards may be used to verify identity and nationality and may also be used for travel within the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and certain other countries such as FYROM, instead of a passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
. The cards are widely used for other purposes - for example when opening a bank account, or when making a payment by cheque
Cheque
A cheque is a document/instrument See the negotiable cow—itself a fictional story—for discussions of cheques written on unusual surfaces. that orders a payment of money from a bank account...
.
History
Following defeat in the Battle of FranceBattle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
, national identity cards were first issued as the carte d'identité des Français the under the law of October 27, 1940, and were compulsory for everyone over the age of 16. A central record was also instituted. From 1942 French Jews had the word "Jew" added to their card in red, which helped the Vichy
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
authorities identify 76,000 for deportation as part of the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
Under the decree 55-1397 of October 22 1955 a revised non-compulsory card, the carte nationale d'identité (CNI) was introduced, and the central records abandoned. With the introduction of lamination in 1988 it was renamed the carte nationale d’identité sécurisée (CNIS) (secure national identity card). In 1995 the cards were made machine-readable. It became free in 1998.
The future
Following a study launched by French Minister of the InteriorMinister of the Interior (France)
The Minister of the Interior in France is one of the most important governmental cabinet positions, responsible for the following:* The general interior security of the country, with respect to criminal acts or natural catastrophes...
Daniel Vaillant
Daniel Vaillant
Daniel Vaillant is a French Socialist politician.-Biography:Close to Lionel Jospin, Vaillant held several ministerial portfolios in his cabinets: Minister of the Relations with Parliament from 1997 to 2000 and Interior Minister from 2000 to 2002...
in 2001, plans have been proposed to introduce a new identity card, the INES (carte d'identité nationale électronique sécurisée) or 'secure electronic national identity card', to be implemented from around 2007. Similar to a credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
, it is likely that this will contain biometric fingerprint and photograph data on a chip (also recorded on a central database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
). The scheme has many similarities to the British national identity card and National Identity Register
British national identity card
The Identity Cards Act 2006 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provided for National Identity Cards, a personal identification document and European Union travel document, linked to a database known as the National Identity Register .The introduction of the scheme was much...
created by the Identity Card Act of 30 March 2006.
The official agency in charge of data use monitoring, the 'national commission for computing and liberties' (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés or CNIL
CNIL
The Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés or CNIL is an independent French administrative authority whose mission is to ensure that data privacy law is applied to the collection, storage, and use of personal data. Its existence was established by French , concerning computers,...
) has no official position since the project hasn't been officially submitted yet. CNIL was itself created (in 1978) to guard against the infringement of liberty that might result from the use of information technology
Information technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
, as a result of the public outcry over other plans in the 1970s to issue a 'national identity number' to each citizen, linked to the records of all Government agencies (which would have been similar to the existing numbers in many other European countries: Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Estonia, etc.).
Official consultation
The largely Government-funded Internet Rights Forum (Forum des droits sur l’Internet) or FDI, was asked by Interior Minister Dominique de VillepinDominique de Villepin
Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin is a French politician who served as the Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007....
to conduct a public debate on the Internet and throughout the French Regions. The FDI focused on the critics.
The FDI reported to Villepin's successor, Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, on June 16, 2005, stating that 74% were in favour of the cards, 75% in favour of a fingerprint database, and 63% in favour of compulsion. They did, however, make a number of recommendations to change aspects of the proposals.
In response to the Government's debate, a group of French bodies initiated a report and petition against the plans. Founded by the Human Rights League (Ligue des droits de l'Homme), Magistrates' Union (Syndicat de la Magistrature), French Lawyers' Union (Syndicat des Avocats de France), the 'Imagine a United Internet Association' (association Imaginons un Réseau Internet Solidaire), the Group for Rights and Liberties in the face of the Computerisation of Society (intercollectif Droits Et Libertés face à l’Informatisation de la Société) and the French Democratic Lawyers Association (Association française des juristes démocrates), the group submitted an alternative report and petition. This states that:
- The claims that the scheme would reduce fraud were unsubstantiated;
- The argument that the cards would help the fight against terrorism was not appropriate (although ID cards exist in France, they did not prevent the 28/7/1995 terrorist attack);
- There were important risks concerning the protection of a person's private life and their data, especially due to the existence of the proposed central database and its possible uses;
- The introduction of the INES scheme, even if it incorporated the revisions suggested by the FDI, would shatter the social pact between the citizen and the state, and that the proposals should be abandoned.
Over 1000 organisations and individuals backed the report's conclusions. By then end of January 2006 this had risen to over 68 groups and organisations, and over 6,000 individuals.
The Senate named a commission. Its 2005 report pointed the need to fight the existing fraud by a new identity card system which should also protect freedom and privacy.
Legislative progress
Although draft legislation was published in 2005, as at the of 2005 the Government had not set a date for discussion of the proposals in Parliament. As a result, it is unclear if the scheme will go ahead or when it would commence.A new project, taking into account the criticism and suggestions made in 2005, is under study.
Machine-readable zone
The format of the first row is:| positions | chars | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | alpha | I |
| 2 | alpha | type, at discretion of states (D in that case) |
| 3–5 | alpha | FRA // issuing country (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest... code with modifications) |
| 6–25 | alpha | Card holder's last name |
| 25-36 | alpha+num | Unknown |
The format of the second row is:
| positions | chars | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1-12 | num | Id card number 1-2 is year of issuance, 3-4 is month of issuance and 5-6 is department of issuance |
| 13 | num | Check digit over digits 1–12 |
| 14–27 | alpha | First name followed by given names separated by two filler characters |
| 28-33 | num | Birth date (AAMMDD) |
| 34 | num | check digit over digits 28-33 |
| 35 | alpha | Genre (M or F) |
| 36 | num | Unknown |
See also
- British national identity cardBritish national identity cardThe Identity Cards Act 2006 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It provided for National Identity Cards, a personal identification document and European Union travel document, linked to a database known as the National Identity Register .The introduction of the scheme was much...
- Biometric passportBiometric passportA biometric passport, also known as an e-passport or ePassport, is a combined paper and electronic passport that contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of travelers...
- Mass surveillanceMass surveillanceMass surveillance is the pervasive surveillance of an entire population, or a substantial fraction thereof.Modern governments today commonly perform mass surveillance of their citizens, explaining that they believe that it is necessary to protect them from dangerous groups such as terrorists,...
- Common Travel AreaCommon Travel AreaThe Common Travel Area is a passport-free zone that comprises the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. The area's internal borders are subject to minimal or non-existent border controls and can normally be crossed by Irish and British citizens with only...
- Schengen Information SystemSchengen Information SystemThe Schengen Information System , is a governmental database used by European countries to maintain and distribute information on individuals and pieces of property of interest. The intended uses of this system are for national security, border control and law enforcement purposes...
In English
In French
- CNIL - Carte d’identité électronique : la CNIL au cœur d’un débat de société majeur
- Pétition pour le retrait du projet de carte d'identité biométrique
- Le Forum des droits sur l'internet Rappport : Projet de carte nationale d’identité électronique
- Droit-tic Biométrie : une sécurité accrue au détriment des libertés individuelles ?