No addresses for ID cards under NIDS

Johnson Smith gives assurance following discrimination concern raised by Crawford

LEADER OF Government Business in the Senate Kamina Johnson Smith has given the assurance that the proposed national identification card will not bear the addresses of Jamaicans who sign up for it.

She made the disclosure after Opposition Senator Damion Crawford cautioned that the take-up for the card could be reduced among young people from inner-city communities who feel they could suffer discrimination owing to their addresses.

“I don’t want our young people from inner-city communities, whose community risk they try to avoid by not putting the address, say they have to avoid the NIDS (the National Identification System) because the address is automatic,” Crawford said yesterday while debating the National Identification and Registration Act in the Senate.

Lawmakers in the Upper House passed the bill with eight amendments. Members of the Lower House gave the bill the nod last month.

During yesterday’s debate, Opposition Senator Donna Scott-Mottley raised concern about a provision in the bill that dealt with the disclosure of identity information. She is of the view that the clause posed a significant breach of someone’s right to privacy.

Section 24 (1) of the bill states that the “National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) shall not disclose identity information stored in the national identification databases, about an individual”. However, it allows for three cases in which identity information can be disclosed.

In the first instance, identity information can be disclosed in accordance with the request of the individual concerned. Secondly, it can be released in accordance with an order of a judge.

However, Scott-Mottley took issue with the third reason which states that “disclosure may otherwise be provided by this Act or any other law”.

Arguing that this approach defied the entire spirit of the legislation, Scott-Mottley said that this sub clause which allows the broad sharing of all the information with anybody under any other law ought not to be dealt with in this manner. At least we should know whether the individual is going to be notified,” she said.

She also expressed reservations about Section 7 (c) of the bill which indicates that the failure to report the theft, loss, damage, mutilation or destruction of the card constitutes an offence. A fine of $500,000 can be imposed for this infringement of the law.

“If the card is destroyed, they can’t use it. If it is mutilated, they can’t use it. If it is lost, they can’t use it,” Scott-Mottley contended. Her colleague Senator Sophia Frazer-Binns also queried whether this violation was a criminal offence. “The punishment does not fit the crime,” she added.

Johnson Smith later amended Section 7 (c) by deleting the words “damage, mutilation and destroyed”.

However, she said that the legislation places an obligation on the holder of a NIDS card to report its loss or theft.

Responding to Opposition queries on when the regulations for the NIDS law and the Data Protection Act will be ready, Johnson Smith said the draft regulations were 75 per cent complete.

She said the regulations would be ready by the first quarter of next year.

The bill that was passed on Friday has significant departures from the controversial law of a similar name that was struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in April 2019.

The bill was referred to a joint select committee where extensive deliberations took place involving submissions from various groups and members of the public. The previous bill was not reviewed by a joint select committee.

The proposed new statute makes provisions for voluntary enrolment with the National Registration Authority but allows the individual to cancel the registration.

Under the new bill, the Authority will require biometric information such as facial image, fingerprints, and manual signature.