Following this week’s House of Commons vote to introduce ID cards within five years in the UK, the Chief Minister, Frank Walker, said that the Council of Ministers were closely monitoring the situation.
‘We are liaising with the British government’s Department of Constitutional Affairs and we shall have to assess what, if anything, Jersey needs to do in the light of how it progresses in the UK,’ Senator Walker said.
Jersey’s data protection registrar, Emma Martins, has issued a word of caution, however.
‘All this must be really thought through,’ she said.
‘Jersey can’t just bring in ID cards without considering the data protection and human rights implications in full.
‘There are huge considerations.
We would want the public to be fully engaged in the process so that they can make their feelings known to the people in power.
The relationship between the people and the state changes when such cards are introduced.’ But the decision may be out of the Island’s hands as countries like the United States are moving towards demanding documents from travellers which contain irrefutable forms of identification.
