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Swiss airports and airlines allowed to use facial recognition

Airports and airlines should be allowed to use facial recognition
The government says the use of biometric data would allow passengers to dispense with paper tickets or electronic boarding passes. Keystone-SDA

Airports and airlines in Switzerland are to be allowed to use facial recognition for passengers. The government wants to allow the use of biometric data in the passenger handling process.

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On Wednesday the government submitted a draft amendment to the Aviation Act for consultation.

The government wrote that the use of biometric data would allow passengers to dispense with paper tickets or electronic boarding passes. Facial recognition could be used at baggage drop-off, check-in, boarding pass control or when boarding an aircraft.

+ Survey finds majority of Swiss candidates against automatic facial recognition

However, access controls for staff using facial recognition would also be possible. According to the government, the current process without biometric data must be offered as an alternative for people who reject this.

Facial recognition is one of 22 topics in aviation that the government wants to regulate with the revision, including the protection of existing airports. Some of the proposals are based on parliamentary initiatives. The consultation period lasts until November 28.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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