The new Citizen’s Card will have more features and will be simpler to use and more secure.
The Citizen’s Card (CC) for newborns, up to the first 20 days, will become free of charge still this year, ensuring that all Portuguese are born citizens and have the right to their identity, free of charge.
More than 15 years after the launch of the Citizen’s Card, an evolution is being prepared that will allow it to keep up with technological changes and the need to reinforce security.
The new CC, planned for the last quarter of this year, will be contactless, even more secure, with new standards common to all European Union member states and will have new digital features that will enhance its use, with more convenience.
Changes will be introduced in the physical component, such as the addition of the European Union flag in blue with the initials “PT” in negative, the name of the document in English with the translation “IdentityCard”, the ICAO electronic document symbol and the access code for the contactless component. In the electronic component is expected to provide access to information recorded on the chip through contactless interface and the addition of the image of fingerprints collected in accordance with the ICAO specification. The strengthening of the security component includes the revision of the cryptographic scheme of the authentication and signature certificates present in the CC.
For the citizen, the most visible changes are:
- Contact chip moves to the back of the card;
- Photo increases in size and moves to the previous position of the chip;
- Increase in the font size of the different texts;
As a consequence of the increase in font size, there is also an increase in the number of lines for the citizen’s first and last name, as well as for the filiation, reducing the maximum number of characters per line.
The new CC will also allow the address on the document to be changed online and without the need to physically change the card.
It will also be possible to activate the Citizen’s Card using biometrics, eliminating the need to deliver the CC in person to activate the certificates by using secure mechanisms that comply with the provisions of European regulations.
These changes were introduced with a total guarantee of document security and the strengthening of the identity chain. The card readers currently used will not need to be replaced, with contactless being an added feature of simplification, maintaining the possibility of reading the chip by inserting the card into the terminal.
In one of the greatest examples of innovation and integration of public services, the Citizen’s Card brought together, for the first time, information that was scattered across several documents and incorporated a series of attributes that were decisive for people’s adherence to online public services.
As of September 2020, citizens may now choose postal delivery as the method of delivery of the Citizen’s Card. This delivery is made by CTT with confirmation of the identity of the holder of the CC and only he can receive it. More than 2.1 million deliveries have already been made in this mode. As for automatic renewal, which allows the entire process to be completed without the need to go to a counter, more than 1.7 million citizen cards have already been renewed in a non-presential manner.
The current Citizen’s Cards will remain valid until the expiration date shown on the document, and will be replaced as they expire and new cards are issued.