The head of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications Nikolai Nikiforov recently made a statement that after a while the citizens of the Russian Federation will have to part with paper passports, as they will be replaced with a special card with a chip. When exactly this will happen is still unknown.
The new chip card will act not only as a citizen's identity card, but also as a payment instrument. The Federal Migration Service (FMS) and the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications are engaged in the project of introduction of new generation general civil electronic passports.
According to Nikolai Nikiforov, the new document will be made in the form of a plastic card with a chip on which full information about the citizen will be recorded. The Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications plans that with the help of the new document it will be possible to pay for various services. Paper passports will be abolished, thereby saving a large share of budgetary funds.
The project of new passports is connected with the idea of a universal electronic card. It will contain information about the citizen, his electronic signature, a special banking application, etc. The card can be used to pay utility bills, receive social and state services, travel in vehicles, etc.
On behalf of the government, an interdepartmental working group has been created, which is already developing a new document with an electronic carrier of information, which will certify a person's identity on the basis of an ID card - this information was confirmed by the FMS. In addition, the department especially emphasizes that before legalizing the new system, it is necessary to create conditions for its effective operation. “We need a so-called all-encompassing telecommunications structure,” the FMS explains. The FMS authorities have not yet commented on the timing of the introduction of the new type of document. Representatives of the company "Universal Electronic Card" also refused to give any comments on this issue.
To date, only two countries have experience in implementing electronic documents - Estonia and Singapore. In Russia, this transition may be delayed, as the digitization of all the numerous paper documents will be required. In addition, all services, from the police to the library, will have to be equipped with readers - special devices for reading data.
