Share
The Togolese National Assembly adopted on 3 September 2020 the bill relating to the biometric identification of natural persons in Togo.
The purpose of this law is to put in place the regulatory framework in the field of biometric identification in order to establish an identification and authentication system for all Togolese natural persons present or not on the national territory as well as any person staying temporarily or permanently in Togo, through obtaining and updating data on the identity of natural persons in Togo.
In addition, the purpose of the law relating to the biometric identification of natural persons in Togo is to provide each Togolese citizen with a unique identification number (Numéro d'Identification Unique NIU) on the basis of their demographic and biometric data, thus allowing the setting up a database for verifying the identity of beneficiaries within the framework of public, private or social services, in particular health coverage, updating the file election, access to health services, granting of a subsidy or special aid, reduction of fraud in the financial system, targeting of aid beneficiaries in the social sector, educational and administrative monitoring of citizens.
Currently, as part of the West Africa Unique Program Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) of the World Bank, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Togo, and Niger are implementing the biometric identification system and are part of the same dynamic to assign a unique identifier to all their citizens.
In fact, on the 28th April of this year, The World Bank has approved a $273 million [1] in International Development Association (IDA)financing for Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger to facilitate access to services for millions of people, especially women and the poorest segments of society. The West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion (WURI) Program aims to help build the foundational identification systems that are inclusive of all persons in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) territory, irrespective of nationality, citizenship, or legal status.
The law takes into account the protection of personal data. It provides for the creation of a national identification agency (Agence Nationale D’Identification: ANID) placed under the authority of the Presidency of the Republic with the technical supervision of the ministries responsible for the digital economy and security.
The Agency is required to comply with the regulations governing the protection of personal data.
In addition, the Agency will provide the means to trace and collect all the information relating to any access to the database (name of the author of the access, date and time, authenticated person), given that the Agency is responsible for conducting inspections of any entity having access to the data of registered individuals (Article 20).
