Three bills tabled in the House last Thursday take different approaches to parents’ names on Cypriot ID cards: DISY’s would let holders leave them off, while ELAM’s and Direct Democracy’s would make them compulsory.
The bills come from DISY’s Giorgos Lysandrides, ELAM’s Christos Christou and Direct Democracy’s Dimitris Sougles. All three seek to set out in law what the cards show, through amendments to the Population Register Law.
Lysandrides’s bill would let holders choose in writing to leave off four details: sex, father’s and/or mother’s name, place of birth and signature. They could do so at first issue, at renewal or at any later time. According to the bill’s explanatory memorandum, the aim is to set the card’s contents in law and strengthen personal data protection under the principles of necessity and data minimisation.
The ID number, full name, photo, date of birth, nationality, issue and expiry dates, and security and biometric features would be compulsory. Lysandrides also proposes amending article 64 so the registration authority issues a replacement card when a holder applies in writing to omit or include certain details. The memorandum says the card would stay valid, and details left off it would still be held in the Population Register.
Christou’s bill, tabled on behalf of ELAM’s parliamentary group, would set in law that the card shows the holder’s parents’ names. According to the explanatory memorandum, the aim is to ensure that essential details of personal and family status cannot be removed or changed by administrative decision. The bill amends article 63 to specify that the card shows the holder’s surname, name, sex, nationality, date of birth, father’s surname and name, mother’s maiden surname and name and place of birth, plus the ID card number and document number. It lets the director add any other detail.
According to Christou, the parents’ details help establish the holder’s identity securely, ease administrative identification and ensure continuity and reliability of the data in the Population Register. He said: “Given that the family is the fundamental core of society, listing a citizen’s origin through the parents’ details is a long-standing practice of public administration, without infringing any individual right.”
Sougles’s bill would set the card’s contents in law, instead of leaving them to the director of the Interior Ministry’s Population Register and Elections Department. It requires at least the following: name and surname, place and date of birth, expiry date, ID number, father’s name and surname, mother’s name and maiden surname, nationality, sex (“Male” or “Female”), and date and place of issue.
All three bills have been referred to the House Interior Committee for discussion.
