« 12 Notification of changes affecting accuracy of Register | Main | 14 Disclosures with consent of registered individual »
May 23, 2004
13 Invalidity and surrender of ID cards
(1) Regulations may require an individual to whom an ID card has been issued to
notify the Secretary of State, and such other persons as may be prescribed, if.
(a) the card has been lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed; or
(b) there is reason to suspect that the card has been tampered with.
(2) The Secretary of State may cancel an ID card if it appears to him.
(a) that it was issued in reliance on inaccurate or incomplete information;
(b) that a change of circumstances requires a modification of the
information recorded in or on it; or
(c) that it has been lost, stolen, damaged, destroyed or tampered with.
(3) A person who is knowingly in possession of an ID card without either.
(a) the lawful authority of the individual to whom it was issued, or
(b) the permission of the Secretary of State,
must surrender the card as soon as it is practicable to do so.
(4) Where it appears to the Secretary of State that a person is in possession of.
(a) an ID card issued to another, or
(b) an ID card that has expired or been cancelled or is otherwise invalid,
the Secretary of State may require that person to surrender the card within such
period as he may specify.
(5) Where an ID card has to be surrendered under subsection (3) or (4), it must be
surrendered.
(a) to the Secretary of State; or
(b) in the case of a card issued by designated documents authority, either
to the Secretary of State or to that authority.
(6) A person who contravenes a requirement imposed by or under.
(a) any regulations under subsection (1), or
(b) subsection (3) or (4),
is guilty of an offence.
(7) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (6) shall be liable.
(a) on summary conviction in England and Wales, to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding 51 weeks or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the
standard scale, or to both;
(b) on summary conviction in Scotland or Northern Ireland, to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not
exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both;
but, in relation to an offence committed before the commencement of section
281(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44), the reference in paragraph (a) to
51 weeks is to be read as a reference to six months.
(8) Where.
(a) a designated document has been issued with an ID card; and
(b) an obligation to surrender the designated document, or otherwise to
deliver it, to any person is imposed on the person with possession of it,
the obligation to surrender or otherwise to deliver the designated document
includes an obligation to surrender or to deliver the ID card.
(9) In this section.
(a) references to a card having been damaged include references to
anything in or on it having become unreadable or otherwise unusable;
and
(b) references to a card having been tampered with include references to
information in or on it having been modified for an unlawful purpose,
or copied or otherwise extracted for such a purpose.
Posted by wtwu at May 23, 2004 10:55 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.spy.org.uk/cgi-bin/mt3121/mt-tb.cgi/127
Comments
Section 13 "(9) In this section. (a) references to a card having been damaged include references to anything in or on it having become unreadable or otherwise unusable;"
This is an iniquitous clause, which attempts to shift all the blame and risk of malfunctioning or sub-standard smart cards or smart card biometric readers, onto the poor citizen, rather than on to the manufacturer or operator or Government where it belongs.
How is a member of the public, without their own private, fully security compliant, Biometric reader, meant to be aware of a damaged or otherwise unusable ID card ?
There are many possible scenarios where an ID Card which has not been tampered with fails to be read by a particular reader device correctly e.g.
- Failure of a finger print scanner due to excessive oil and salt deposits at an airport after several hundred passengers who have been nibbling on "free" packets of peanuts etc. have been processed.
The stupid wording "anything in or on it having become unreadable or otherwise unusable" wording of this clause also makes it an offence when the Government has to revoke or disable an ID Card because of a security breach which has nothing to do with the innocent citizen.
Smart Cards, just like credit cards, will suffer from normal "wear and tear" and the budget should take into account the expected rate of failed or sub-standard cards.
Under the Sale of Goods Act, ID Cards should be "fit for purpose" and should be replaced for free if they fail to be read and have not been deliberately tampered with.
RECCOMENDATION:
Remove Section 13 9(a) from the Bill and insert a guarantee of free replacement for faulty of sub-standard ID Cards which have not been deliberately tampered with.
Make it illegal for a petty official to harrass a citizen because of any failures of the Card Reader infrastructure.
The Home Affairs Committee should find out if this clause was inserted as a result of lobbying by commercial vested interests or if it is merely the result of the Home Office being out of touch with real world consumer goods rights and warranty issues.
Posted by: wtwu at May 24, 2004 05:20 AM