Bulgaria: Proposal to Abolish Indefinite Identity Cards for Citizens Over 58

A proposal to abolish the issuance of indefinite identity cards for Bulgarian citizens aged over 58 has been put forward by members of the GERB party, including former interior ministers Manoil Manov, Hristo Terziyski, and Mladen Marinov.

Currently, citizens in Bulgaria receive identity cards valid for 4 years between the ages of 14 and 18, which are then renewed every 10 years after reaching adulthood. However, upon turning 58, citizens have been receiving indefinite identity cards.

The proposed changes aim to address this by introducing a validity period for identity cards of people over 58, with an option for those over 70 to request a 30-year validity period. This aligns with regulations from the European Parliament and the International Civil Aviation Organization, which recommend validity periods of no more than 10 years due to changing demographics.

Additionally, members of the "We Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria" party, led by former Minister of Electronic Government Bozhidar Bojanov, have introduced further amendments to the law. These amendments include provisions to ensure that citizens' fingerprints, collected during the application process for personal documents, are not stored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs unless express consent is given.

The proposal aims to comply with EU regulations regarding the handling of biometric data and to mitigate risks associated with data breaches, such as the leak of over 1 million people's fingerprints in the UK in 2019.

Furthermore, measures are proposed to streamline the process of requesting personal documents, including allowing citizens to use previously issued documents for identification purposes and eliminating the requirement for birth certificates when applying for new documents.

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