German officials to receive e-cards soon

The Government of Germany is planning to provide special smart cards to the federal civil servants for access control, work time recording and a range of other functions, replacing the paper IDs which have remained unchanged for the past 30 years.

The government has passed a regulation which into force on April 15, 2008 and clears the way for the introduction of electronic IDs throughout the federal administration. The new cards, which contain chips, will be more difficult to forge, reports ePractice.

Besides access control, the electronic cards will perform a number of internal and cross-cutting functions for which there has so far been no single standardised medium used throughout the administration. These facilities will also include electronic signatures.

The new cards were developed by Germany’s Bundesdruckerei in co-operation with the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) and the Federal Office for IT Security (BSI).

The cards will be made of polycarbonate and personal details will be engraved on them by laser. Security features will include guilloche patterns (geometric spirals), microinscription and copy-proof inks.

Each individual authority will decide the amount of data to be stored on the chip. It will also decide which card functions are actually used and how they are built into the existing infrastructure.

According to the ePractice report, the bearer’s authorisation will be needed in order to read off personal data that are particularly worthy of protection.