As the government prepares to produce Albanian passports itself, a reaction comes from the EU delegation in Tirana. In response to ABC News’ interest in this matter, the EU delegation says it expects to be informed by the Albanian authorities about the security standards that will be applied to the new documents.
The delegation emphasizes, among other things, that it is essential to apply strong security standards during the production of these documents.
The full response of the EU delegation in Tirana to the ABC News journalist, Esiona Konomi:
The Albanian authorities are free to choose any provider they wish for the production and distribution of passports and identity cards.
Any new provider must meet International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) passport security standards, which include, among other standards, appropriate infrastructure such as secure stamping facilities.
Also, any country benefiting from the visa liberalization regime is expected to apply the highest standard of expertise and integrity in the production of biometric documents. The process of managing the identification and protection of citizens’ data is of great importance. We expect the Albanian authorities to inform us about the security standards that will apply to the new documents.
We are ready for the experts of the European Commission to review the issuing procedures and the new identity documents to be produced.
We would like to recall that document security was one of the standards included in the visa liberalization roadmap, which led to the visa-free regime for Albanian citizens traveling to the EU since 2010. It is therefore essential that strong security standards are implemented. during the production of these documents.
/abcnews.al
