Obligation of identification describes the requirement to be in possession of a valid

identity card An identity document (also called ID or colloquially as papers) is any document that may be used to prove a person's identity. If issued in a small, standard credit card size form, it is usually called an identity card (IC, ID card, citizen ca ...

and to produce this on demand when requested by authorities. Many countries do have an obligation of identification for their own citizens within their borders, such as many European countries. When a person is entering or exiting a country or state, an obligation of identification is often required, e.g., passport control.

Overview

Many countries in Europe and several states in the US do require identification: * Europe: Overview of national ID cards in Europe * United States:

Stop and identify statutes "Stop and identify" statutes are laws in several U.S. states that authorize police to lawfully order people whom they reasonably suspect of a crime to state their name. If there is not reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, is bein ...

Identification obligation policies by country

Germany

Historical

The obligation of identification in Germany was introduced in 1938 by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

for

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

and men of military age. Shortly after the start of World War II, it was extended to apply to all citizens over the age of 15. The identity card was known as

Kennkarte The ''Kennkarte'' was the basic identity document in use inside Germany (including occupied incorporated territories) during the Third Reich era. They were first introduced in July 1938. They were normally obtained through a police precinct and bore ...

. British citizens were obliged to carry identity cards between October 1939 and May 1943. The British identity card did not have a photo of the individual or date of birth, just the name and address.

Present Day

The German Act on Identity Cards and Electronic Identification (German: ''Personalausweisgesetz'') requires all citizens over the age of 16 to be in possession of an

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the persona ...

and to be able to present this document to authorities on request, allowing for fines of up to 5000 € in cases of violations. Except for specific circumstances, the act however does not demand carrying such a document at all times; in cases of suspicion of a crime and/or severe doubts as to the identity, police officials may temporarily apprehend persons or accompany them to their homes to produce the document there. The German identity card has a chip which stores an image of the holder's face and may also store fingerprints for holders from the age of 6. Driver's licenses, health insurance cards and other documents issued by government-controlled authorities are ''not'' valid means of identification for German citizens.

Sweden

In Sweden there is no explicit law on obligation of identification. But still the police can demand identification in case of crime suspicion, because they have the duty to determine the identity of suspects. A person who is suspect of a crime giving a fine or an extra fee, such as no local traffic ticket, and are without an identity card, are suspect of identity fraud, a crime that can give prison and warrants an arrest.Polislag 14 §
/ref> Normally those are brought to the police station and are asked for their name and personal id number and are checked against the photo stored in the passport or driver's license database. A fine is not given if the identity is given correctly. Driver's licenses are valid as identification card in Sweden. Car drivers still have mandatory duty to carry their licenses, even if there is no crime suspicion. The situation is similar in the other Nordic countries. Identity documents from Nordic countries are valid in all these countries although some types are less known and can give problems.

References

{{Reflist Privacy in Germany Identification