Ministers set to agree fingerprint passports

FINGERPRINTS and digital face scans will be stored on a chip in people's passports within three years and the information will be available to law enforcement agencies throughout the European Union, justice ministers are expected to agree today.

This is set to reverse a decision made by the ministers just a few months ago when they decided to exclude fingerprints from biometric identifiers on passports.

Civil rights groups and the EU's own data protection agency have warned that the new identification system and EU-wide data base will make suspects of ordinary citizens and is open to abuse.