Starting from 2023, a mandatory identity document for both citizens and non-citizens living in Latvia will be an identity card or electronic identification (eID) card. In the third part of the publication, the LV portal explains whether the decision to make the identity card a mandatory identity document will change the travel conditions and the electoral process, as well as whether the eID card, similarly to the passport, will be able to incorporate information about one's minor children.
The passport of a Latvian citizen or non-citizen remains as the first-line identity document or as a travel document that can be used when traveling to countries where the eID card is not recognized as an identity or travel document.
SUMMARY
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After the eID card becomes a mandatory identity document, the passport of a Latvian citizen or non-citizen will remain as a first-line identity document or a travel document that can be used when traveling to countries where the eID card is not recognized as an identity or travel document.
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A travel document is an identity card (for Latvian citizens only) or a passport for Latvian citizens and non-citizens).
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In the context of the Brexit, the United Kingdom (Great Britain) has declared that passports shall be the sole travel document for EU citizens, including the EEA and the Swiss Confederation.
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While the eID card will become a mandatory identity document, it will not be possible to incorporate therein information about a person's children.
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It is planned to introduce and use the online voter register in polling stations for voter registration.
Based on the interest shown by the readers of the LV portal:
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In the first part of the publication “eID card as a mandatory identity document (I): a State-guaranteed identification tool”, the conditions for granting electronic identity and electronic signature certificates and the differences between eSignature eID and eParaksts Mobile were examined in more detail. It was also explained what is necessary for a person to be able to sign with one or the other method, as well as the possibilities provided by the e-assistant or authorized e-service were considered.
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In the second part of the publication “eID card as a mandatory identity document (II): mandatory condition for the diaspora and transition period”, explained when the eID card should be received by the diaspora and how the transition period will take place.
In the final part of the publication we provide answers to the following questions:
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whether the passport remains as an identity document, who will need it and when,
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whether travel conditions for Latvian citizens and non-citizens change,
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whether the eID card will be able to contain information about children,
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how the mandatory eID card affects the electoral process.
Passport as a first-line or travel document
In accordance with Section 2(4) of the Personal Identity Documents Law (PIDL), a travel document shall be an identity document which, in accordance with international agreements binding on the Republic of Latvia, this Law or other regulatory enactments, entitles its holder to cross the external border of the Republic of Latvia and is intended for traveling abroad.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development (MEPRD) explains: when making an eID card a mandatory identity document, a Latvian citizen's or non-citizen's passport remains as the first-line identity document or a travel document that can be used when traveling to countries where the eID card is not recognized as identity or travel document. MEPRD reminds that the eID card can be used as a travel document only by Latvian citizens in the territory of the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA) countries and the Swiss Confederation.
For non-citizens, only a passport will still be valid for trips abroad
According to the information provided on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), a travel document is an identity card or eID card (only for Latvian citizens) or a passport (for Latvian citizens and non-citizens). Namely, the identity card of a non-citizen of Latvia is not a travel document and non-citizens, as before, will always need a passport for trips abroad.
Whereas Latvian citizens will still be able to use the identity card as a travel document when going to countries such as:
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Albania, Andorra, Austria
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Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria
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Czech Republic, Denmark, France
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Greece, Georgia, Croatia
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Estonia, Ireland, Iceland, Italy
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Cyprus, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg
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Malta, Montenegro, Moldova
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Netherlands, Norway
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Poland, Portugal, Romania
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Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, Spain
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Switzerland, Hungary, Germany
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Northern Macedonia (former Macedonia), Sweden
Travels to Great Britain with eID - only until 1 October 2021
In the context of the Brexit, the United Kingdom (Great Britain) has declared that passports shall be the sole travel document for EU citizens, including the EEA and the Swiss Confederation. According to the information posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, eID cards for Latvian citizens will no longer be recognized as a travel document from 1 October 2021. This means that after that date, if there is a desire to go to Great Britain, not only non-Latvian citizens, but also Latvian citizens will need a valid passport.
The exception is those Latvian citizens who will have lived in Great Britain before 31 December 2020 and registered for permanent or temporary resident status. Namely, these individuals will be able to use the eID card in the UK as a travel document at least until 31 December 2025. Further details on entry rules into the United Kingdom can be found here.
Information about the child
According to Article 9 of the Cabinet of Ministers (CoM) Regulation No. 134 “Regulations on Identity Documents”, if a person wishes, his or her passport may include information from the Population Register about his or her child or children under 18 years of age.
In accordance with the above-mentioned regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers, pages 6, 7 and 8 of both the Latvian citizen's passport and the Latvian non-citizen's passport are intended for entries on a person's children: the child's surname, first name, date of birth, gender and personal identity number.
As explained by Madara Puķe, the Head of Public Relations at the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA), the entry about children in the passport ensures that the child's birth certificate does not have to be taken with you when traveling.
Answering the question whether the eID card will also provide an opportunity to include information about a person's children, M. Puķe points out: “No, it will not be possible. Once a personalized document has been issued, it is no longer possible to add any information for security reasons." The readers of the LV portal have the above-mentioned question because they are worried about how in the future, receiving only an identity card, they will be able to buy prescription drugs in a pharmacy for their minor children.
According to the information provided on the e-health system website, if it is necessary to purchase e-prescription medicines for your minor child (even if the person is the child's guardian), the child's parent must present his/her identity document (passport or eID card) at the pharmacy and only give the child's name and surname. Therefore, as before, in order to purchase prescription drugs in the pharmacy prescribed by a doctor for a minor child, the child's parent will continue to have to present either an eID card or a passport. It is not mandatory to include in one's passport information on the children.
At the same time, a minor from the age of 14 is entitled to purchase his or her own printed prescription or e-prescription medicines.
Impact on elections
Paragraph 3 of the PIDL Transitional Provisions stipulates that until the introduction of electronic voter registration, a Latvian citizen's passport or Latvian citizen's identity card together with a voter certificate issued by the Central Election Commission (CEC) or the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (OCMA) to a person who does not have a valid Latvian citizen's passport, shall be the required document for exercising the right to vote in Parliament (Saeima) elections, referendums and collection of signatures for proposing draft laws or draft amendments to the Constitution (Satversme).
Laura Zaharova, the Head of the Information Department of the CEC, points out: "The wider use of the eID card will certainly have an impact on the electoral process, as it will create a situation where there will be more and more voters who will only have an eID card but no passport." Thus, already in the next Parliament elections in 2022, a solution is needed so that voters could participate in the elections without additional administrative burden of asking for a voter's certificate.
The MEPRD has been working on such a solution for several years in cooperation with the institutions involved in ensuring elections, including preparing a conceptual report “On the eID card as a valid identity document in the Parliament elections” (hereinafter - the Report), which was supported by the Cabinet of Ministers in February 2020
An online voter register will be used to register voters
According to L. Zaharova, out of the three options considered in the Report, the most appropriate solution was chosen, which envisages the Parliament elections to abandon the current voter registration procedure, when the voter's passport (or voter's certificate if the voter does not have a passport) was marked for voting. Instead, it is planned to introduce and use an online voter register at polling stations, as per the CEC representative.
This solution will ensure that voters, as before, will be able to choose to vote at any polling station, while the voter turnout will be recorded in the electronic online voter register. In order to make this process faster and more accurate, it is planned to use smartphones at the polling station, which will be used to read the voter's passport or eID card number. L. Zaharova also points out that information about the voter will be found in the voter register, at the same time informing the election commission whether the person has the right to vote and whether the voter has not already voted.
At the initiative of CEC, the online voter register will be used for the first time in the 2021 municipal elections. In order to be able to use this solution in the 2022 Parliament elections, it is necessary to adopt appropriate amendments to the Parliament Election Law and the Voter Register Law by October this year.
Source: LV portal