Council of Europe: need for a global consideration of the human rights implications of biometrics

The CoE’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights is “increasingly concerned about the rapid and uncontrolled development of biometric technologies”. It stresses the need to strike an appropriate balance between security and the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, especially the right to privacy. In its report, the Commitee says:

Given that at European level the legal framework regarding the use of biometric data remains vague, Council of Europe member states should take further measures to improve it. In particular, they should adopt specific legislation in this area, produce a standardised definition of “biometric data”, put in place supervisory bodies and promote multi-disciplinary research.

The Committee of Ministers could, amongst other things, revise the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data in order to adapt it to the challenges stemming from the development of biometric technologies.