Under new plans set out by Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden, municipalities will soon be required to take identity photos for passports, foreign resident cards, and identity cards themselves in a bid to combat identity fraud, according to La Libre Belgique.
While the common sense move will improve the lives of customers and local governments, photo studios fear that the move will destroy their industry. The photo sector fears that this decision will force hundreds of professional photographers and photography studios to go out of business.
In an alternative proposal, the photo sector wants the government to allow photographers to take photos with the aid of sensors, which will automatically transfer information to the government in a secure manner.
Unfortunately for photo studios, this appeal appears to have been dashed by Verlinden. “The competent task force gave a negative opinion on the proposal made by the sector, because it did not offer sufficient guarantees in terms of the fight against fraud, IT governance, and the protection of privacy. The sector will be informed by us,” she said.
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Despite the concerns of photographers, the government will now push ahead with trials in several municipalities, but it had not yet been decided which would participate in the early trials.
The photo sector is furious. “Not only have we learned the news indirectly, but we have not yet received any justification on the merits. This is a decision on which the future of hundreds of small self-employed people depends,” Denis Duvivier, a representative for the sector, told La Libre.
In the context of record high energy bills, high cost of living, and increasing strain on household finances, Duvivier denounced the “indifference” of the Federal Government and described the move as a “coup de grace” for “an even higher number of photographers than we initially feared.”
