quote:
Biometric-based ID may come into use in 6 months
But US still likely to deny seafarers shore leave if they don't have visa
By DONALD URQUHART
July 15, 2004SINGAPORE -- The new biometric-based identity document for the world's 1.2 million seafarers could be in use in just over six months as global testing is set to begin and more states ratify its governing Convention, said an International Labour Organisation (ILO) official.
The new identity document is the product of the ILO's new Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (No 185), which was hammered out last year after 15 months of intensive negotiations among governments, shipowners' associations and labour unions.
The Convention needs only one more country to ratify it in order for it to enter into force, following France's lead.
Nigeria has indicated it will soon follow suit, enabling the Convention to enter into force six months later, said the ILO's Director of Sectoral Activities Department, Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, speaking to Shipping Times on the sidelines of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) Annual Forum.
All eyes are on the United States, as currently the vast majority of foreign seafarers are denied shore leave at US ports unless they are in possession of individual visas - a time consuming, costly and impractical procedure for most seafarers.
Although the Convention (both the existing and the new) and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Convention on the Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic enshrine the right of visa-free shore leave, the US has made it clear it does not consider the new ID to be a 'substitute' for a US visa.
'We've been engaged in discussions with the US government and there's been significant progress and the importance of the seafarers' ID document is something that they recognise as critically important and they would endorse,' Ms Doumbia-Henry said.
'They consider that the seafarers' identity document would greatly facilitate the exercise of shore leave,' she added, but indicated the US has so far stopped short of dropping the visa requirement.
The US had pushed for greater security features in the new ID and a key aspect is its fingerprint-based biometric template in which an individual's fingerprint is scanned and stored as numerical data in a machine-readable barcode.
The ID will also include various personal details including a digital photograph of the individual. The other key security component consists of a secure global database containing all of the information on each ID card - including the biometric data - which can be accessed by authorities around the world to verify the authenticity of the document and the individual holding it.
'There is a whole comprehensive security system quite apart from the biometric component, to ensure that the procedures and practices in place for issuing the documents are also secure,' Ms Doumbia-Henry said.
Testing of the biometric template products submitted by vendors will begin by latest Sept 1, according to Ms Doumbia-Henry. 'This is an exciting development because it is the first global interoperability testing of a biometric-based ID,' she said.
By the end of October, the ILO expects to be able to provide a list of products that are compliant with the ILO standard. This should kick-start the implementation as well as attract further ratification because countries can then make a clear analysis of the costs of putting the system in place, Ms Doumbia-Henry said.
The ILO estimates that the full-scale system for issuing the IDs would cost less than US$400,000 for a large scale seafarer country like the Philippines or India. A smaller scale system could shrink the cost to only US$150,000.
The cost to receiving countries is substantially less as they only need the equipment to read the IDs and connect with the database.
Shipping News
P.S. Changed subject title from Biometric-based ID for seafarers in 6 months to Biometric-based ID for seafarers.