• Home
• /
• Entertainment

STATUTE GOVERNING DEMOGRAPHIC RECORD AND IDENTITY GIVEN A NOD

The Ministerial Legislations Committee last week sanctioned a law governing demographic record and identity card. The statute contains deterrent penalties against violators to ensure the confidentiality of information of individuals and curbing impersonation.

According to Dr Saeed Khalfan Al Dhahiri, Director-General of the Emirates Identity Authority, the law streamlines the mechanisms of issuing the identitiy card and ensuring the confidentiality of information pertaining to individuals listed in the UAE Citizenship Document (locally known as Kholasat Alk Qaid), passports, labour card, and driving licence. The law includes punitive items to ensure against abuse and manipulation of particulars related to individuals, and guarantees the secrecy of information, protecting individuals from impersonation and abuse of the documents.

Dr Al Dhahiri said that the new Residential Record and Identity Card Programme provides important database and statistics for decision-makers, contributing to enhancing the economic planning operations and investment in the country. The authority had hammered out a national plan to implement the new programme in several stages. Elaborating, he said the authority is currently preparing the infrastructure of the project by sanctioning laws and legislations governing the registration and procedures of issuing the identity cards, he noted.

The identity card facilitates the finalising of government dealings, simplifying procedures, and helping officers discard paper work, thus rooting out forgery and impersonation, he added.