Cabinet clears new Immigration Bill paving the way for biometric electronic passports as an overhaul of a 78-year-old law brings convenience, security – and questions over how citizens’ most personal data will be protected
COLOMBO, Wednesday – Sri Lanka has moved closer towards introducing fully-fledged electronic passports incorporating biometric information after the Cabinet approved the publication of a new Immigration Bill intended to replace legislation dating back to shortly after Independence.
The proposed legislation is intended to replace the Immigrants and Emigrants Act No. 20 of 1948, providing a new legal framework for immigration and emigration while facilitating the introduction of a biometric data-entry system for electronic passports to be issued in the future. Cabinet has approved publication of the Bill in the Gazette before it is presented to Parliament.
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The move comes as the Government says it intends to begin issuing e-passports within less than a year. The transition has been discussed for years and has previously encountered procurement difficulties, delays and controversy, making the latest legislative move an important step towards finally creating the legal architecture necessary for the system.
Electronic passports are designed to make identity verification more secure and difficult to forge, while allowing immigration authorities to authenticate travellers more efficiently. For Sri Lankan travellers, a properly implemented system could also help modernise a passport infrastructure that has struggled with shortages, queues and administrative disruption.
Indeed, the timing of Tuesday’s announcement was striking. The Immigration and Emigration Department’s computer system suffered a breakdown on the same day, temporarily disrupting its one-day passport service before officials announced that the system had been restored.
Modernisation, however, brings another set of responsibilities. Biometric information is fundamentally different from a password or passport number. A compromised password can be changed; a person’s fingerprints or other permanent physical characteristics cannot simply be replaced.
The public-interest issue is therefore not whether Sri Lanka should modernise its passports – there is a compelling case that it should – but whether the safeguards surrounding the information will modernise at the same pace.
Before the system becomes fully operational, citizens are entitled to know precisely what biometric information will be stored, whether the information will reside within the passport chip, a central State database or both, which agencies will be permitted access, how long the information will be retained and what safeguards will exist against unauthorised access.
There is also a wider question because Sri Lanka is simultaneously moving towards greater digitisation of government identity systems. The authorities should therefore make clear whether passport biometric information will remain within a dedicated immigration architecture or whether it could eventually be interoperable with other government databases.
None of those questions is an argument against electronic passports. Properly designed biometric travel documents can make borders more secure, identification more reliable and international travel easier. But the more valuable the information collected by the State becomes, the greater the State’s obligation to protect it.
Sri Lanka is replacing an immigration law written in 1948 with legislation intended for the digital age. Be that as it may, changing the technology is the easy part; convincing citizens that the State can safely guard the digital version of their identity may prove the more important test.
