Smart ID card coming

by TREVOR YEARWOOD

A SINGLE, MULTI-PURPOSE, "high-security" ID card is to replace the three major ones issued by Government.

It will simplify transactions for people who have had to show their National Identification Card, driver's licence and National Insurance & Social Security card to access goods and services.

Prime Minister David Thompson, who yesterday announced plans for the new card, said it would end duplication of efforts and "an inefficient use of resources" by different agencies.

The National ID Card, in use since 1979, "is now considered unattractive", Thompson admitted.

More importantly, because of the ease with which it is produced, "there have been cases of photograph substitution and other attempts to fraudulently produce and reproduce the card", he pointed out.

"This near-obsolete ID card, which needs to be replaced regularly, is not machine-readable. Since there is no online verification of the biographical data, it must be taken at face value.

"The mind boggles at the extent of not only fraud, but also time-wasting and frustration that this state of affairs is causing Barbadians."

Thompson said people working in Barbados and licensed to drive had to carry at least three different ID cards "containing similar biographical information which is entered, stored and accessed using different methods of database management."

The proposal for addressing the problem was "a single, multi-purpose, high-security card containing a microchip. This smart card would carry biographical and biometric information which could easily be verified online," he said.

"It would combine the three existing cards and have the financial capacity to function as a debit card to facilitate payment of National Insurance pensions and benefits.

"It could also function as an electronic purse for users of the services of the Transport Board."

Thompson gave no time frame for the launch of the new card.

However, he admitted that putting it in place posed a number of challenges, including acquiring several pieces of hardware and software, and changes in the information technology and network infrastructure.

The Prime Minister spoke about the new card while addressing the opening session of the fourth general meeting of the Association of Caribbean Electoral Organisations at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

He told electoral officials from several nations that Barbados looked forward to collaborating with people who had embarked on a similar project and to receiving any comments on the proposal.