Identity Cards Act 2006
| National Identity Card | |
|---|---|
Front of card (2009) | |
| Type | Identity card, optional replacement for passport for travel to EU and EFTA countries. |
| Issued by | United Kingdom Identity and Passport Service |
| First issued | 2009 (first version) 2011 (discontinued) |
| In circulation | 15,000 (2011) |
| Purpose | Identification & travel document |
| Valid in | United Kingdom European Union EFTA Rest of Europe (except Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine) |
| Eligibility | British Citizens |
| Expiration |
|
| Cost |
|
| Size | ID-1 |
The Identity Cards Act 2006 (c. 15) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was repealed in 2011. It created National Identity Cards, a personal identification document and European Economic Area travel document, which were voluntarily issued to British citizens. It also created a resident registry database known as the National Identity Register (NIR), which has since been destroyed. In all around 15,000 National Identity Cards were issued until the act was repealed in 2011. The Identity Card for Foreign nationals was continued in the form of Biometric Residence Permits after 2011 under the provisions of the UK Borders Act 2007 and the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.
The introduction of the scheme by the Labour government was much debated, and civil liberty concerns focused primarily on the database underlying the identity cards rather than the cards themselves. The Act specified fifty categories of information that the National Identity Register could hold on each citizen. The legislation further said that those renewing or applying for passports must be entered on to the NIR.
| Act of Parliament | |
| Long title | An Act to make provision for a national scheme of registration of individuals and for the issue of cards capable of being used for identifying registered individuals; to make it an offence for a person to be in possession or control of an identity document to which he is not entitled, or of apparatus, articles or materials for making false identity documents; to amend the Consular Fees Act 1980; to make provision facilitating the verification of information provided with an application for a passport; and for connected purposes. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 2006 c. 15 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 30 March 2006 |
| Repealed | 21 January 2011 |
| Other legislation | |
| Repealed by | Section 1, Identity Documents Act 2010 |
Status: Repealed | |
| History of passage through Parliament | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Coalition formed following the 2010 general election announced that the ID card scheme would be scrapped. The Identity Cards Act was repealed by the Identity Documents Act 2010 on 21 January 2011, and the cards were invalidated with no refunds to purchasers.
The UK does not have a central civilian registry and there are no identification requirements in public. Driving licences, passports and birth certificates are the most widely used documents for proving identity in the United Kingdom. Most young non-drivers are able to be issued a provisional driving licence, which can be used as ID in some cases, but not all are eligible. Utility bills are the primary document used as evidence of residency. However, authorities and police may require individuals under suspicion without identification to be arrested.