전자여권제도의 형법적 의의와 활용의 형사 정책적 한계 - 한국과 독일의 형사법제 비교를 중심으로 -

Abstract

The electronic passport system was introduced to reinforce border security and prevent crimes related to passport usage. Although the purpose of system itself is legitimate, its proportional principle in terms of introduction and usage of electronic passport has been pointed out as its limit because of a risk of violation and misuse of biometric data in the passport. Moreover, given the situation that fingerprints of the whole nation has been collected and stored under the process of ID card issuance, the principle of proportionality should be observed under the strict standards. In this respect, revision of the Passport Act that prevents inclusion of fingerprints into the electronic passport appears to be desirable. However, current Passport Act is still insufficient to protect biometric data collecting and using after issuance of passport. First of all, the information obtained from the process of passport issuance should not be stored, and biometric data in the electronic passport should be used only for the purpose of proof of identity. Second, passport should not be utilized to search personal information and the information on the passport should be interpreted by limited object. Lastly, the rule of punishment for falsifying a passport should be established in the Passport Act. In addition, it needs to be complemented that biometric data is clearly embraced into the concept of personal information under the Act on the Protection of Personal Information in order to prevent misuse and falsification of biometric data. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to consider establishing the elements of aggravated punishment within Criminal Law in order to prevent the organized crime related to electronic passports.