VWP BIOMETRIC PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS: SLOVENES EXPECT NO

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000400

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR CA/VO/F/P (DLOPES DA ROSA, RAMOTOWSKI); EUR/NCE (VTRIMM);
EUR/PPD (ARUPPE, FSCHMADEL); AND ECA/PE/V/R/E (KHAVENNER)
DHS FOR BCBP (CRONIN); USEU FOR POL/PRM (MMEZNAR); ROME AND VIENNA
FOR DHS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CMGT PREL KPAO SI
SUBJECT: VWP BIOMETRIC PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS: SLOVENES EXPECT NO
PROBLEMS COMPLYING.

REF: (A) STATE 111324

(B) 2002 LJUBLJANA 0940
(C) 2003 LJUBLJANA 0655
(D) STATE 047887
(E) LJUBLJANA 0191
(F) LJUBLJANA 0243
(G) LUBLJANA 0298
(H) LUBLJANA 0384


1. Conoff delivered statement about USG policy on requirements for
biometric passports for Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries to
Slovene government officials June 15, as directed in Ref. A.
Conoff discussed the issue in an afternoon meeting with Andrej
Ster, Director General of the MFA's Directorate of International
Law and Protection of Interests, and with Bojan Trnovsek, State
Undersecretary of the MoI's Section of Citizens' Registration and
Public Documents.


2. Ster commented that the GoS would have no difficulty complying
with any of the requirements made in the statement and suggested
the timeline described would be workable. In reviewing
requirements outlined in the statement, Ster and Trnovsek noted
the following:

- All Slovene passports already comply with Level I - they
incorporate a digitized photo image laser-etched onto a
polycarbonate biodata page (Ref. B).

- Slovenia already reports all lost and stolen passports to
INTERPOL and DHS (Ref. C).

- Slovene authorities already share information with DHS about
lost and stolen passports intercepted and on trends and analysis,
as detailed in Post's reporting (Reftels E,F,G and H) on the VWP
Action Plan (Ref.D). Ster said he would confer with Slovene Police
to ensure their procedures include advising DHS of interceptions
of lost and stolen passports of all nationalities.


3. Trnovsek said he expects Slovenia to be in compliance with
Level II well before October 2006. He said the Interior
Ministry's plans to deploy a biometric passport by October 2005
ran into unexpected delays recently. A government commission
ordered the Ministry to republish a public tender originally
published in March that requested bids for producing the biometric
passport. With the tender being republished this week, the
introduction of the new biometric passport has been pushed back to
after the beginning of 2006.


4. Ster said it would be very helpful to have details of the
upcoming technical conferences as soon as possible to assist in
preparations. In particular he asked how many participants from
each country would be invited. Ster said the certification
requested in the statement would be prepared immediately.


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2005LJUBLJ00400 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED



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