BELGIAN ID CARD
As of 2020, over 28​​ million Thales’ Belgian ID cards have been issued in the country.
Initiated in 2003, the BelPIC (Belgian Personal Identity Card Project) program has reached 100% of its population targets at the end of 2011.
The polycarbonate credit card-sized document is the national identification card in the country, the official and mandatory ID document for Belgian citizens over 12.
The second generation of electronic ID cards is now being deployed since 2014, and over 2 million cards are delivered per year.
THE NEW BELGIAN ID CARD (2020)
According to Home Affairs minister Pieter De Crem’s cabinet in November 2018, fingerprints will need to be added to ID cards by October 2019 to better fight fraud.
This is in line with the EU proposal of April 2018 on strengthening the security of identity cards of Union citizens. Approved by the European parliament in April 2019, the proposed regulation was ratified in June 2019.
The new model with two fingerprints was officially launched at the beginning of 2020 in a pilot in Lokeren. If the pilots planned in 25 cities run well, the national roll-out will take place in March.
Discover its new look and feel in L’Echo dated 14 January 2020.