On June 30 2009, Interior Minister Mihail Mikov proudly presented the production methods that will be used for Bulgaria’s new passports, to be introduced no later than January 2010.

The new passports not only have a new design, but will also mean the introduction of the long-delayed biometric passports. This was originally scheduled to be in use before the country joined the European Union (EU) in January 2007, but was later rescheduled, with a final deadline in mid 2009. Mikov told journalists he did not expect the EU to start procedures against Bulgaria because of the delay.

The contract for the production of Bulgaria’s new identity documents was signed between the Interior Ministry and Germany’s Siemens in April 2009, despite three companies who competed for the order contesting the selection of Siemens in front of Supreme Administrative Court (SAC).

Not only Bulgarians will carrybiometric identity documents. Among the documents to be changed and to store biometric data is also the residence and identity card for foreigners residing in the country. The new card is to resemble the Bulgarian лична карта (identity card) and will have the format of a credit card.

When asked by The Sofia Echo whether there would be different cards or different procedures for EU and non-EU citizens, Mikov said that had not been decided yet. The new identity papers are to be issued as of January 2010, with at least a theoretical possibility of the introduction happening in the months before that.

The documents will be issued at 30 local police stations throughout the country. The decentralised system of issuing and production, would allow the ministry to continue current fast-track procedures for issuing documents. A standard procedure for issuing a new passport would take 30 days and cost 40 leva. Fast-track procedures would be available to have passports issued in three days or in eight hours, though no prices for these services were announced. For children between 14 and 16 and pensioners over 70, as well as the handicapped, passports would be free. The biometric data that will be stored on the new identity documents, include a photo, a signature of the carrier and the fingerprints of the two index-fingers. Along with the photo, an automatically generated description containing measurement of distances between the eyes, the nose, the mouth and the ears would be stored on the chips.

When required, additional information could be added to the chips at a later stage, without having to change the passport. Even though they are issued in local police offices throughtout the country, Bulgaria’s new identity papers are to store data in a centralised database.

According to a spokesperson for Siemens, access to the database would require two access keys, held by two individuals. The data would at all times be encrypted, using strong encryption technology, to avoid interception of the data during transmission.

In March 2008, Peter Hustinx, head of the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), issued an opinion in which he criticised EU plans for biometric passports and the creation of centralised databases by member states, saying that they "present additional risks regarding the protection of personal data, such as the development of further purposes not foreseen in the regulation, or even fishing expeditions into the database which will be difficult to mitigate".

When asked by The Sofia Echo who would have access to this database, Mikov said "employees of the Interior Ministry." Asked to further specify who precisely within the ministry would have access, Mikov could not say, responding that this was a question of procedure.