18 August 2004 – In the ongoing battle against the threat of terrorism on the high seas and in the world's ports, a new and more rigorous biometric identity verification system which could potentially be used by 1.2 million global maritime workers has received the necessary ratifications to go into force by February, the United Nations labour agency has announced.

Just two ratifications are needed for the entry into force of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 185 aimed at bolstering international security in the global sea shipping industry, and Jordan has followed France with its endorsement, the 176-member Geneva-based agency said yesterday.

The Convention, adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2003, seeks to balance the imperatives of security with the rights and freedoms of maritime workers and facilitate mobility in the exercise of their profession, for example when they board their ships to work, take shore leave or return home.

�The tragic consequences of terrorism can be aggravated by security measures resulting in hardship for the world's seafarers, including work under detrimental conditions or loss of jobs, and for world shipping in general," said Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of the ILO programme that promotes the new instrument.

�This convention provides an unprecedented international system for identification freely agreed to on behalf of governments, ship owners and seafarers," she added of the new �biometric template" which turns two fingerprints of a seafarer into an internationally standardized 2-D barcode on the Seafarer's Identity Document (SID).

Employers' groups, workers' groups and governments represented on ILO�s Governing Body supported the approval of a new standard as a matter of urgency to meet new security measures already being imposed on seafarers worldwide. Until now there have been no mandatory specifications for international identity documents.

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The ID cards Bill could be in next month's Queen's Speech

Plans to combine new compulsory identity cards with passports and driving licences have been dropped by Home Secretary David Blunkett.

The changes to the controversial scheme comes in response to MPs who said the plans were badly thought out.

Mr Blunkett also promised to allow the whole scheme to be overseen by a new independent watchdog.

The legislation to allow ID cards is widely expected to be promised in next month's Queen's Speech.

The Home Office's official response to the Commons home affairs select committee inquiry into the project said: "When cost, implementation and risk considerations are assessed together, we now think the option of a free-standing card is more attractive."

The new cards will include "biometric" details of each cardholder, such as their fingerprints, an electronic scan of the dimensions of their face or a scan of the iris of their eye.

Approved agencies will be able to check those details against a central database.

Phased in

The government believes the cards will help combat illegal immigration and working, terrorism and identity fraud.

Benefits to the public, the Home Office says, will include people not having to worry about using driving licences, passports or bank statements to prove their identity.

If they are introduced they will be the first national ID since the Second World War ones ended more than 50 years ago.

You will have no choice but to spend £35 on a stand-alone ID card, on top of a £73 charge for the passport Mark Oaten Lib Dem spokesman

They will be phased in - people will get them at the same time as they renew or get a passport - and eventually be compulsory to have, though not to carry.

The Home Office had originally planned to phase in ID cards from 2007-2008 by bringing in new passports which would include a microchip bearing biometric data and would double-up as ID cards.

Instead, passport applicants from 2007-2008 will get a new biometric passport and a separate ID card.

"The majority preference in research was that the ID card should be a separate document," a Home Office spokesman said.

Creating a single organisation to implement the scheme would also improve accountability and possibly be cheaper, he added.

Costs hike?

John Denham, Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee, said the changes made it more likely the "essential scheme" would succeed, although further work on the details and costs was still needed.

There would have to be careful scrutiny of the aims of the scheme, the new commissioner's powers and the safeguards against misuse of the system, said Mr Denham.

"If we can get these areas of the Bill right, the ID card scheme can be placed on a sound legal footing," he added.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten suggested the biometric technology to be used on the cards was not as foolproof as the government claimed.

He argued the money would be better spent on more police and better intelligence efforts against terrorism.

Mr Oaten said the costs of the scheme for the public were going up the whole time.

But the Home Office said the prices remained unchanged: people would pay either £35 for a stand-alone ID card or £77 for a passport and ID card together.

It was not true to suggest people would be charged twice for the biometric tests, said a spokesman.

Conservative shadow home secretary David Davis said the Home Office should be able to introduce effective ID cards which curbed terrorism, serious crime and the "flood" of illegal immigration as well as being cost effective.

A microchip in the ID cards will hold biometric information

Plans to combine new compulsory identity cards with passports and driving licences have been dropped after MPs said the plans were badly thought out.

But legislation to allow ID cards is widely expected to be promised in next month's Queen's Speech.

Q: So what happens now?

The Home Office has now said that "cost, implementation and risk considerations" make the option of a free-standing card more attractive.

The first cards will appear in 2007 and the Home Office wants them to be compulsory by 2013.

It is estimated 80% of the economically active population will carry some form of biometric identity document by 2008.

The whole scheme will be overseen by a new independent watchdog. A private company, PA Consulting Group, already has a two-year contract to work on the design and implementation of the cards.

Q: How have the plans changed?

The Home Office had planned to phase in the cards from 2007-8, by bringing in new passports that would incorporate a microchip holding biometric data and could double up as an ID card.

Now, passport applicants from 2007-8 will get a new biometric passport and a separate ID card.

Q: Would ID cards be compulsory?

They will eventually be compulsory to have, though not to carry.

Mr Blunkett wants ID cards to be compulsory from 2013, subject to getting consent from Parliament.

He has previously said at the very least nobody should be able to work or claim benefits without one.

People would not have to carry it in the street, but would have to produce the card when required.

Q: What information will be on the cards?

The card would contain basic identification information including a photograph of the card holder, along with their name, address, gender and date of birth.

But a microchip would also hold biometric information - a person's fingerprints, iris image or facial dimensions, which are unique to the individual.

From 2007-2008, it will be compulsory for anyone who replaces their passport to have their biometric data taken.

The biometric details may prove controversial but are designed to make the cards more difficult to forge.

Q: Why is the government so keen on these cards?

The government thinks introducing ID cards would be a powerful way of fighting illegal immigration and fraud.

It would be a way of checking the entitlement of an individual to receive services and benefits, including welfare payments and treatment under the NHS.

But the scheme is also designed to help stop terrorists and organised crime groups using false and multiple identities.

How much will it cost?

Mr Blunkett said the cost of setting up the system over the next three years would be £186m but the total cost is tipped to be £3bn.

People will have to pay about £77 for a combined passport identity card, compared to the current £42 charge. A plain identity card will be about £35.

Cards will be free for under 16-year-olds and retired people above the age of 75, while those on low incomes will pay a reduced rate of about £10.

Q: What are the objections?

In a country which prides itself on safeguarding the liberty of the individual, there has always been a reluctance to accept ID cards.

Some critics fear it might cause friction among ethnic minorities and set back race relations.

There are also fears that the cards would simply drive illegal immigrants into hiding, forcing them to avoid contact with hospitals and police.

Civil liberties campaigners say the scheme could lead to thousands of ordinary people being criminalised if they refuse to own the cards.

They also worry that too many people will be able to access personal details on the ID register without card holders knowing.

Among the practical objections is the concern that overseas terrorists could exploit the rule that foreign nationals need the cards only if they are coming to the UK for longer than three months.

MPs also say a lot of the details of the ambitious scheme - such as how many card readers and biometric readers will be needed to check ID and how much they will cost - are unclear.

Q: Do other countries have ID cards?

Eleven of the 15 nations of the European Union now have some form of ID card, even if they are not compulsory.

They have become widely accepted by their citizens. In France, for example, about 90% of the population carries one.

But many other countries, like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, have not adopted the idea.

In the United States, despite the attacks of 11 September, there has been no attempt to persuade people a national ID card would be a weapon in the war against terrorism.

The country does intend, however, to make visitors have cards to cover their visas.

The strength of public feeling about privacy and personal liberty remains a deterrent to political leaders.

Q: Why did Britain get rid of ID cards after World War II?

During the Second World War the ID card was seen as a way of protecting the nation from Nazi spies. But in 1952, Winston Churchill's government scrapped the cards.

The feeling was that in peacetime they simply were not needed. In fact they were thought to be hindering the work of the police, because so many people resented being asked to produce a card to prove their identity.