The Ministry of the Interior yesterday confirmed that it has postponed its plan to issue electronic national identification cards (eIDs) in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cards would likely be issued in the first quarter of next year at the earliest on a trial basis in selected cities and counties, Department of Household Registration Affairs Director Wanda Chang (張琬宜) said.
The preparation work for the eIDs is still ongoing and the date of a nationwide release would be determined after evaluating the results of the trial, she added.
The ministry would provide an update once it decides which administrative regions are to participate in the trial, she said.
The ministry said the pandemic had delayed delivery of machinery, which is manufactured overseas, needed to make the new cards.
The ministry originally planned to send personnel abroad to retrieve samples of the eIDs, but that has also been disrupted by the pandemic, Chang said.
The ministry had initially planned to finish updating the national identification cards of all 23.5 million Taiwanese by the end of 2023.
The card would display as little personal information as possible, showing the Republic of China flag, along with a person’s name, national identification number, date of birth and headshot, as well as their marital status — but not the spouse’s name — and date of issuance and expiration, a source close to the matter said.
The ministry is also considering releasing an app that would allow people to authenticate their identity on mobile devices when they apply for government services, the source added.
Groups, including the Taiwan Association for Human Rights and the Judicial Reform Foundation, have voiced concerns over plans to start issuing eIDs, and have called on the Control Yuan to investigate the matter, saying the cards are an invasion of privacy.
They said that eIDs would become a tool for the government to track all aspects of people’s daily lives, allowing for tighter control and pervasive monitoring of society, and the cards would undermine national security if data on the eIDs are hacked or leaked.
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