A biometric Swiss identity card (ID) is expected to be available in Switzerland by the end of 2026. The Federal Office of Police and its federal and cantonal partners are working on a new ID card that features a chip. +Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The chip with biometric data should protect the identity card even better against misuse, such as counterfeiting, the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) wrote on Monday. The Swiss passport already has a chip of this type. The biometric data can only be read when the ID card is physically presented. It is not possible to read the data at distance, Fedpol says. Furthermore, only countries that have equivalent data protection regulations to Switzerland would be authorised to access the fingerprints. The change follows decisions taken in the European Union. In 2019, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU adopted a regulation according to which member states will issue biometric ID cards from 2021.
