Taiwan Constitutional Court places fingerprinting plan on hold

22/06/2005

The Council of Grand Justices announced an unprecedented injunction on the national fingerprinting programme.  This halts a project that involved the issuing of new national ID cards that will generate a national fingerprint database. 

Background

For a number of years Taiwan has attempted to implement a biometric identity card.  New national identity cards were to be issued as of July 1^st.  In accordance with a 1997 Household Registration Law, these new cards were to include a fingerprint of all citizens over the age of 14.  Premier Frank Hsieh argued that the programme would protect the human rights of all.

My commitment to human rights is no less than anyone else. (…) The principle of administration based on law restricts government (… and) in fact guarantees the human rights of the great majority of the people.”[1]

The status of the fingerprinting programme came into question in April 2005 when the Cabinet actually decided to recommend its abolition to the President and the Parliament.  Pressure against the Cabinet rose when the Interior Ministry purchased 9000 fingerprint scanners at an estimated cost of NT$500 million.[2]

In May 2005, Vice President Annette Lu launched a public campaign against the fingerprinting of all Taiwanese residents.  She warned that fingerprinting was unnecessary because they are not decisive factors in solving criminal cases.  She also argued that creating a database of fingerprints will likely create risks of computer crime.  The vice president also argued that the requirement was unconstitutional. 

“The government's collection and storage of fingerprint records constitutes a collection of individual data and involves the questions of guarantees of the individual right of privacy and information autonomy.”[3]

The Vice President was also concerned that the adoption of a fingerprinting programme would hurt Taiwan’s international image as a democratic society.  She predicted that Taiwan would “probably become an international laughingstock.”

An alliance of over 100 human rights groups formed to oppose the programme.  The ad hoc “Movement to Refuse Fingerprinting” includes as members the Taipei Bar Association and the Judicial Reform Foundation.  Supporters were planning to apply for identity cards but will refuse to be fingerprinted.  They would then lodge formal complaints with their local governments if they are then not issued with a card.

Opposition parties claimed that the majority of Taiwanese supported the fingerprinting programme.  According to one party leader, 70 percent of respondents to polls agreed with the programme.[4] 

In June 2005, the Council of Grand Justices issued a temporary injunction to halt the programme.  This was the first time that the Council had used this power.[5]The court froze the section on the collection of fingerprints, on grounds that the database of fingerprints would involve considerable administrative costs, and if the database was later found to be unconstitutional, these resources would be wasted.  A final judgement on the constitutionality of fingerprinting is pending. 

Related:
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ID Cards Home Page
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