The electronic national ID (eID) card will have a “military grade” information-security system, a senior Ministry of the Interior official said yesterday.
The government announced last year that new ID cards that combined existing national ID cards with Citizen Digital Certificates would be launched by October this year.
However, early last month, Department of Household Registration Affairs Director Chang Wan-yi (張琬宜) said that travel restrictions triggered by COVID-19 had made importing the equipment to manufacture the cards difficult, so the rollout would likely be pushed back until next year.
Chang yesterday confirmed that the program has been delayed probably until next year, due to improvements being made to the cards and production issues caused by the pandemic.
The ministry originally estimated the new cards would cost the same as the current national IDs — NT$200 — but production costs have been higher due to the improved security features, she said
While initial cards would be provided free of charge, there are plans to charge a NT$900 fee for replacements for lost cards, because the department has to carry out additional identity checks and other risk-prevention measures since the new cards would carry more sensitive data, she said.
People who need to replace an eIDs due to changes in personal information would have to pay a NT$300 fee, she said.
The costs are still just estimates, and the department would welcome public input, she said.
However, replacing or undating an eID would still be cheaper than other government-issued documents, such as passports or Alien Resident Certificate cards for foreigners, which respectively cost NT$1,300 and NT$1,000 to replace, Chang said.
“The eID will be the most secure type of card issued in the country ... It will be as secure as a classified military document,” she said.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas