The Information Commissioner, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) and Law Society have added to the criticism of the ID Card Bill prior to its second reading in the House of Lords next week.
JCHR's official findings that the scheme might not be compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), in particular the respect for private life (Article 8) and prohibition on discrimination (Article 14). In its Report published on Tuesday, the Committee detailed its concerns. The JCHR reported:
"That the establishment of the National Identity Register under the Bill was likely to lead to the compulsory retention of large amounts of personal information in respect of large groups of persons";
"That such retention, either under a compulsory scheme or under a scheme requiring registration to obtain designated documents, risked being insufficiently targeted at addressing the statutory aims to ensure proportionate interference with Article 8 rights";
"That the imposition of effective compulsory registration through designation of documents, including documents unrelated to the statutory aims, risked disproportionate interference with Article 8 rights, as well as unjustified discrimination under Article 14";
"That a system of phased-in compulsory registration risked disproportionate interference with Article 8 ECHR, and unjustified discrimination in breach of Article 8 read with Article 14 EHCR";
"That further safeguards should be included on the face of the Bill to ensure that the system of checks on the Register (clause 18) was compliant with Article 8";
"That the wide scope for disclosure of information from the Register (clauses 19-22) risked breach of Article 8 rights, in the absence of sufficient safeguards on the face of the Bill".
The Report concluded by saying "the Bill's provision for the retention of extensive personal information relating to all or large sections of the population may be insufficiently targeted to be justified as proportionate to the statutory aims and may lead to disproportionate interference with Article 8 rights".
"That the establishment of the National Identity Register under the Bill was likely to lead to the compulsory retention of large amounts of personal information in respect of large groups of persons";
"That such retention, either under a compulsory scheme or under a scheme requiring registration to obtain designated documents, risked being insufficiently targeted at addressing the statutory aims to ensure proportionate interference with Article 8 rights";
"That the imposition of effective compulsory registration through designation of documents, including documents unrelated to the statutory aims, risked disproportionate interference with Article 8 rights, as well as unjustified discrimination under Article 14";
"That a system of phased-in compulsory registration risked disproportionate interference with Article 8 ECHR, and unjustified discrimination in breach of Article 8 read with Article 14 EHCR";
"That further safeguards should be included on the face of the Bill to ensure that the system of checks on the Register (clause 18) was compliant with Article 8";
"That the wide scope for disclosure of information from the Register (clauses 19-22) risked breach of Article 8 rights, in the absence of sufficient safeguards on the face of the Bill".
The Report concluded by saying "the Bill's provision for the retention of extensive personal information relating to all or large sections of the population may be insufficiently targeted to be justified as proportionate to the statutory aims and may lead to disproportionate interference with Article 8 rights".
The JCHR Report (55-page PDF)
