According to the new rules, EU states are obliged to start issuing "electronic" passports with a microchip, which will contain biometric data – a photo and fingerprints, from the end of June this year. At the same time, fingerprints will not be included in the documents of children under 12, given that their skin pattern changes faster.
A number of European Union countries, including Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, have already begun issuing biometric passports. According to RIA Novosti, passports of the current national model will be valid until 2012.