The draft federal law On Amending Federal Law On the Procedure for Exiting and Entering the Russian Federation was submitted by the Federal Migration Service in execution of Presidential Executive Order No 1709 of December 29, 2012 On the Passports of Citizens of the Russian Federation To Verify the Identity of the Russian Federation’s Citizens Abroad which Contain Additional Personal Biometric Data of the Passport       Holder on an Electronic Chip, as well as in execution of Government Instruction of January 18, 2013.

The draft law supplements the above-mentioned federal law with provisions, which stipulate the introduction of additional personal biometric data, namely, a print of the papillary ridges on the index finger of the passport holder, to passports which verify the identity of citizens of the Russian Federation abroad and which contain biometric chips. Federal executive agencies, their territorial divisions, diplomatic missions and consular agencies of the Russian Federation shall be authorised to collect additional personal biometric data from passport holders and to process the required volumes of this data in order to process and issue passports under Russian legislation.

Passport holders aged 12 years or over shall be required to have the papillary ridges on their fingers scanned so as to provide this additional personal biometric data.

The data obtained by scanning the papillary ridges on the passport holder’s two index fingers shall only be stored on their passport’s biometric chip in order to ensure the document’s maximum protection.

The draft law stipulates the authority of federal executive agencies, their territorial divisions, diplomatic missions and consular agencies of the Russian Federation authorised to accept passport-issue applications, to keep records of passports issued to citizens of the Russian Federation which verify the identity of citizens of the Russian Federation abroad, and to submit data to the Federal Migration Service for the Joint Federal Register of Issued Passports.

The need to keep the above-mentioned register is primarily motivated by the need to authenticate and verify passports, as well as the need to prevent, expose, and stop the use of a passport by an individual in whose name the ID was not issued.

In view of the fact that the technological infrastructure will have to be modernised in order to issue passports, that the relevant equipment will have to be purchased and installed, the draft law is to enter into force starting on January 1, 2015. As far as diplomatic missions and consular agencies of the Russian Federation are concerned, the draft law shall enter into force as soon as the relevant equipment has been installed, but this shall be no later than January 1, 2016.

The Federal Migration Service and the Defence Ministry shall implement the federal law using federal budget allocations for their current work, and they shall not require any additional funding from the federal budget.

In order to implement the measures stipulated by the draft law, the Foreign Ministry will require additional funding of 340,740,000 roubles for updating the state system’s equipment which makes, processes and controls new generation passports and visas. The required additional funding will consist of 136,870,000 roubles in 2014 and 203,870,000 roubles in 2015.

The draft law was considered and approved at a government meeting on June 27, 2013.