The Taipei High Administrative Court published a ruling on Wednesday granting a man’s request on privacy grounds to have the names of his parents and spouse removed from his national identity card.
In the case in question, the man, surnamed Chen (?), applied last year at Taipei’s Wenshan District Household Registration Office to have his national ID reissued without almost any identifying personal information, except for his name and identity number.
After the office denied the request, citing regulations on issuing national ID cards set by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI), Chen filed an administrative lawsuit seeking to have the decision overturned.
In a verdict published Wednesday, the court ruled partially in favor of Chen, taking issue with the MOI’s requirement that a person’s ID card must list their military service status and the names of their parents and spouse.
This requirement, the court reasoned, unduly hindered the plaintiff’s privacy rights, thus violating the Constitution’s proportionality principle, and also exceeded Article 51 of Household Registration Act.
Article 51 of the law simply states that a national ID card “represents a person’s identity and is effective throughout the country,” though Article 52 gives the central government the power to stipulate the cards’ format, content and photo specifications.
In its verdict, however, the court denied Chen’s request to have other items removed from his ID card – including his place and date of birth, photograph, gender, and permanent address – on the grounds that these fell within the law’s purview and were constitutionally valid.
In response, Lin Ching-chi (???), head of the MOI’s Department of Household Registration, called the ruling “unacceptable” and said he would ask the office to file an appeal.
According to Lin, the MOI’s regulations on issuing national ID cards are authorized under the Household Registration Act and have been reviewed by the Legislative Yuan.
From a practical standpoint, people are likely to think national ID cards without a uniform format are fake, thus negating the reason for issuing them, he added.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel