Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon, who is also the spokesman for the government’s top advisory Executive Council, has announced that the government has finished drafting a bill that proposes to allow local residents to display an e-ID certificate on the government’s Macao One Account app, without the need to present their physical ID card, when using certain public services, as well as crossing Macau’s border checkpoints.
Cheong made the announcement during a press conference at Government Headquarters on Friday. The bill will be submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL) in due course for debate, review and vote.
The bill announced on Friday proposes to amend Macau’s current law regulating the government’s issuing of ID cards, which was enacted in 2002.
According to Cheong, the amendment bill proposes that the Identification Services Bureau (DSI) can issue an e-ID certificate for an ID card holder through their account of the government’s Macao One Account system, which will be officially accepted as a certificate confirming the card holder’s identity.
The amendment bill proposes that displaying the e-ID certificate on a smartphone that has been verified by the respective device of a public entity will be regarded as having fulfilled the official requirement to present a physical ID card for the purpose of identification.
Nevertheless, Cheong underlined that the proposed e-ID certificate will not be an e-ID card replacing a physical ID card.
Cheong also said that the government expected that the use of e-ID certificates at e-channels in certain border checkpoints, including the Barrier Gate, could start in June or July at the earliest, after the legislature passes the amendment bill in its final reading.
According to DSI Director Chao Wai Ieng, who also attended Friday’s press conference, ID card holders will be able to generate their e-ID certificates on the Macao One Account app through facial recognition.
Chao said that the government plans to roll out the use of e-ID certificates for different public services in phases.
Moreover, Cheong also pointed out that the Identification Services Bureau started to issue the current generation of smart ID cards in 2013.
Cheong said that amendments to the current version of the ID card law are needed for the government to issue the new generation of smart ID cards that feature strengthened cryptographic techniques and anti-counterfeiting technologies.
Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon (right) and Identification Services Bureau (DSI) Director Chao Wai Ieng address Friday’s Executive Council press conference at Government Headquarters. – Photo courtesy of TDM
