The Government on Wednesday, September 19, approved a new bill proposed by the Interior Ministry that paves the way for the issuing of biometric passports in Slovakia. If passed in Parliament, the new law would come into effect as of December 1, 2007.
The biometric passports are set to include data such as fingerprints and facial-recognition features, which constitutes the main condition laid down by the USA for the introduction of visa-free travel for Slovaks.
The proposal also states that new passports should not contain information on the bearer's children. Meanwhile, the charge for passports for 5-13-year-olds is set increase from Sk400 to Sk500 (€15). Measures to introduce the new travel documents have been calculated to cost over Sk1.6 billion by 2010. TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
