Europe set to clash with US over biometrics deadline

The European Union Council of Ministers’ decision to give the 12 members of Europe’s Schengen border control regime 36 months to incorporate fingerprints into their passports and other travel documents as biometric identifiers could put Europe in conflict with the USA. It is currently insisting that foreign nationals of countries covered by its visa waiver regime use fingerprinted passports from October 2005. The proposed three-year implementation period would run from final approval of the proposal, currently expected next Spring.