First electronic Malta ID cards later this year

The first electronic identity cards are expected to be issued at the end of this year, the Infrastructure Ministry said yesterday.

Reacting to comments by Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat, the ministry said the validity of existing ID cards had been extended in order to allow more time for the launch of the nation-wide renewal of ID cards. The change process was going according to plan and was now in an important stage.

The ministry said the electronic ID cards would mean greater security, not least because they would include more information on their owners, including fingerprints. The information would be stored in the card. Thus, it would be difficult to have a repetition of the recent case where an ID card was issued to the wrong person, it said.

The ministry said the Opposition Leader was therefore wrong to imply that the recent extension of the validity of the ID cards hid some ulterior motive.

It pointed out that people who lost their ID cards or had a change in their circumstances - such as when they got married or moved house - were getting their ID cards replaced quickly and free of charge.