Bulgaria Requests Answers from Siemens over ID System Glitches

Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, will hold a phone conversation with the German company Siemens to clarify problems with the personalization software, leading to delays. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's Interior Minister, Tsvetan Tsvetanov, has requested an urgent phone conversation with a high-ranking employee of the German company Siemens over software problems with the biometric ID system.

The information was reported by the Interior Ministry's press center.

By 6pm Tuesday 17 000 applications have been submitted all over the country from citizens wishing to renew their ID documents, 13 600 of them for biometric international passports. 22 000 passport and 32 000 ID cards applications have been submitted since March 29 when the system was first introduced.

On Tuesday, Bulgaria also began processing express ID orders.

It was established in the process that the personalization software is experiencing serious problems in the printing of the ID documents on time. The glitches can be fixed only by the manufacturer – the German Siemens. The Interior insists these problems are not the result of the poor organization of the work flow at local offices.

The conversation with Siemens will take place Wednesday while the Interior appeals to citizens, who do not need to urgently replace their passports and/or ID cards, to delay their applications, especially the express ones.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!