New Swiss biometric ID card planned for 2026

The Swiss government is working on a new national identity card with a chip. Keystone-SDA

A biometric Swiss identity card (ID) is expected to be available in Switzerland by the end of 2026. The Federal Office of Police and its federal and cantonal partners are working on a new ID card that features a chip.

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The chip with biometric data should protect the identity card even better against misuse, such as counterfeiting, the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) wrote on Monday. The Swiss passport already has a chip of this type.

The biometric data can only be read when the ID card is physically presented. It is not possible to read the data at distance, Fedpol says. Furthermore, only countries that have equivalent data protection regulations to Switzerland would be authorised to access the fingerprints.

The change follows decisions taken in the European Union. In 2019, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU adopted a regulation according to which member states will issue biometric ID cards from 2021.

Switzerland, which is not an EU member, must introduce the ID card with chip no later than one year after the revised Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons comes into force.

The biometric ID was part of the agreement package between Switzerland and the EU that has since been initialled. It is expected to be ready by the end of 2026, according to a press release on Monday.

Non-biometric ID cards issued before then will remain valid for travelling to the EU until their expiry date, i.e. for adults for up to ten years. Accordingly, Fedpol recommends biometric ID cards for travelling to other EU countries. Travelling to the EU is also possible with biometric passports.

If you only want to use the ID to identify yourself in Switzerland, you can still have a non-biometric version issued.

Translated from German by DeepL/sb

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