COUNCIL OF Brussels, 3 October 2005 THE EUROPEAN UNION 12192/05 LIMITE FAUXDOC 9 COMIX 566 NOTE From: General Secretariat To: Working Party on Frontiers / False Documents - Mixed Committee (EU - Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) Subject: Information concerning identity and travel documents used by children Delegations find below the replies from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Iceland, to the questionnaire annexed to doc. 11333/05, FAUXDOC 7, COMIX 483. _____________________ 12192/05 ML/cr 1 DG H I EN Questionnaire on identity and travel documents used by children Country: 1. What documents are issued to children (persons under 18 years of age) that are regarded as acceptable identity documents? 2. Are all of these documents also valid for travel purposes both within and outside of the EU? 3. What are the validity periods of such documents? 4. Do they all meet normal travel document requirements, i.e. they are secure government issued documents confirming the identity and nationality of the holder and bear a photograph or image of the holder? 5. Are there restrictions on their use without accompanying parents or guardians? 6. Are all citizens required to hold separate passports, including children? 7. If not, what are the documents that children can be added to and what are the legal provisions for this? 8. Are children allowed to travel on an adult's passport in which they are included without the accompanying adult? 9. When children travel on their own, or with only one parent, do they need in addition to their travel document any other written authorization or any other document from their parents? 10. If so, what form must this authorization take (e.g. legalized or on a special form)? 11. Is this authorization required depending on the type of travel document (e.g. ID card or passport)? 12. Is this authorization only required from your own nationals or also from nationals of third countries residing on your territory? ________________________ CZECH REPUBLIC 1. What documents are issued to children (persons under 18 years of age) that are 12192/05 ML/cr 2 DG H I EN regarded as acceptable identity documents? Travel documents and Identity Card. Travel documents can be issued to everyone no matter how old the person is. Everyone who is older than 15 has to have an identity card. Identity card can not be issued to a person younger than 15. 2. Are all of these documents also valid for travel purposes both within and outside of the EU? Travel documents are valid for travel to all countries. Identity card is valid only within the EU, Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland. 3. What are the validity periods of such documents? Validity of travel documents - 10 years (adults), 2 years (children under 15). Validity of ID cards - 5 years in case of persons between 15 – 20 years of age, 10 years in case of persons over 20 years of age. 4. Do they all meet normal travel document requirements, i.e. they are secure government issued documents confirming the identity and nationality of the holder and bear a photograph or image of the holder? Yes, they do. They are identical to documents issued to adults. 5. Are there restrictions on their use without accompanying parents or guardians? There are no restrictions. 6. Are all citizens required to hold separate passports, including children? No, children younger than 15 can be included into parent's passport. 7. If not, what are the documents that children can be added to and what are the legal provisions for this? Czech legislation: children younger than 15 can be added to parent's ordinary, service, diplomatic and emergency passports. They can also be added to parent's identity card. Only children younger than 15 can travel abroad without separate passport. 12192/05 ML/cr 3 DG H I EN CZECH REPUBLIC 8. Are children allowed to travel on an adult's passport in which they are included without the accompanying adult? No. 9. When children travel on their own, or with only one parent, do they need in addition to their travel document any other written authorization or any other document from their parents? No, they do not need it. 10. If so, what form must this authorization take (e.g. legalized or on a special form)? --- 11. Is this authorization required depending on the type of travel document (e.g. ID card or passport)? --- 12. Is this authorization only required from your own nationals or also from nationals of third countries residing on your territory? No. This authorization is not required from our own nationals nor from nationals of third countries. ________________________ 12192/05 ML/cr 4 DG H I EN DENMARK 1. What documents are issued to children (persons under 18 years of age) that are regarded as acceptable identity documents? Passport. 2. Are all of these documents also valid for travel purposes both within and outside of the EU? Yes. 3. What are the validity periods of such documents? 2 years for children aged from 0-2 years old. 5 years for children aged from 2-18 years old. 4. Do they all meet normal travel document requirements, i.e. they are secure government issued documents confirming the identity and nationality of the holder and bear a photograph or image of the holder? Yes. 5. Are there restrictions on their use without accompanying parents or guardians? No. 6. Are all citizens required to hold separate passports, including children? No, a citizen only needs to apply for a passport, if he or she needs one. 7. If not, what are the documents that children can be added to and what are the legal provisions for this? As from 01.10.2004 Denmark has adopted the principle of “one person, one passport”. Before this date children could be added to parents and other closely related persons passports. Including required consent from the holder of the custody. 12192/05 ML/cr 5 DG H I EN DENMARK 8. Are children allowed to travel on an adult's passport in which they are included without the accompanying adult? No. 9. When children travel on their own, or with only one parent, do they need in addition to their travel document any other written authorization or any other document from their parents? No. 10. If so, what form must this authorization take (e.g. legalized or on a special form)? 11. Is this authorization required depending on the type of travel document (e.g. ID card or passport)? 12. Is this authorization only required from your own nationals or also from nationals of third countries residing on your territory? 12192/05 ML/cr 6 DG H I EN GERMANY 1. What documents are issued to children (person under 18 years of age) that are regarded as acceptable identity documents? (a) Identity card (from age of 16) (b) Children's passport (issued since 1 January 2005) (c) Children's identity document (issued up to the age of 16) The children's identity document can continue to be used until 31 December 2005 or be extended. Its validity would then run until 30 December 2015. (d) Passport from age 16 (For travel to countries which do not recognise the German children's identity document, children under 16 are also issued with a passport). (e) Travel document in lieu of passport 2. Are all of these documents also valid for travel purposes both within and outside of the EU? The documents are valid for all countries provided they do not impose any restrictions on the validity. Their acceptance may however be limited by the entry requirements of the country of destination. 3. What are the validity periods of such documents? (a) 5 years (b) + (c) Children's passports and identity cards are valid for children up to the age of 10 for children over 10 and up to the age of 16 (d) 5 years (e) Validity is limited to the period of travel, up to a maximum of one month. 4. Do they all meet normal travel document requirements, i.e. they are secure government issued documents confirming the identity and nationality of the holder and bear a photograph or image of the holder? (a) Identity cards are only issued with photographs. (b)+(c) Children's passports/identity cards are generally issued without photographs for children under 10 and with photographs for children over 10. If other States demand photographs for children under 10, one can be attached. (d) Passports are only issued with photographs. (e) Travel documents in lieu of passports are issued without photographs. All the documents listed are only issued to German nationals whose identity is established. 12192/05 ML/cr 7 DG H I EN GERMANY 5. Are there restrictions on their use without accompanying parents or guardians? In Germany there are normally no restrictions preventing a child from travelling abroad alone. 6. Are all citizens required to hold separate passports, including children? Germans who have reached the age of 16 are obliged to hold an identity card. There is no obligation to hold a children's identity card or children's passport. 7. If not, what are the documents that children can be added to and what are the legal provisions for this? A child under 16 who does not hold any of the above documents can be included in or added to a parent's passport. If other States demand that passports contain photographs of children included in them, the photographs can be attached to a blank page in the passport.