Claudia Salazar and Martha Martínez / Reforma Agency
Tuesday, March 14, 2023 | 21:31
Mexico City.- The Chamber of Deputies approved a new law that gives the offices of the Civil Registry the power to obtain the biometric data of the population, which will be administered by the Ministry of the Interior.
Although the issuance of the General Law for the Operation of Civil Registries generated a consensus on the need to standardize legislation at the national level on the procedures of the population before the civil registry, there was also rejection of the creation of databases with personal information. of Mexicans without sufficient protection.
It was also questioned that the concept of “sex” should be omitted in the creation of a single format for minutes and that only “gender” would remain.
The law was approved with 299 votes in favor of Morena, PT, PVEM and PRI, 131 against the PAN and MC, and 19 abstentions from the PRD. It was turned over to the Senate for review.
The Law provides for the creation of a National Registration and Identity System (SID).
The Ministry of the Interior will be responsible for designing and managing the SID for the registration of Facts or Civil Status Acts Susceptible for Registration.
Also the management of the Unique Population Registry Code and the link with the biometric data of its owner, which are carried out before the holders of the Civil Registry Offices or public servants authorized to do so in national territory or in consultative offices.
Segob must also concentrate and manage the National Civil Registry Database, as well as raise and propose the minimum characteristics that the State Civil Registry Database must contain in each entity.
The deputy for the PAN María Elena Pérez-Jaén proposed stopping the discussion of the opinion, warning that measures to protect personal data were not considered in the law.
“This law contemplates the creation of a central file, national and state databases and an identity registration system, in which it is intended to concentrate the information of the personal data that is collected in the Civil Registry records, including biometric data without that measures to protect information that could be susceptible to being stolen be limited in the body of legislation,” he said.
He said that the information will be under the responsibility of a large group of officials, among them the public servants of the civil registries of the federal entities, the personnel of the diplomatic representations abroad and, eventually, dependencies and entities of the public sectors, private and financial
Without success, the legislator, former commissioner of the old IFAI, called to stop the discussion and approval of the law due to the risk to the security of the personal data of the population.
The deputy of MC Braulio López Ochoa claimed that with the new law biometric data may be collected from all persons, not specified, from all the states of the Republic to give them to the Ministry of the Interior.
Its use, he warned, is not justified and does not guarantee the protection of the data of all Mexicans.
“In other words, the objective of the initiative does not justify in any way the use of biometric data or the purposes of having them.
“Nor does it indicate which biometric data would be used and it does establish that it will be the Ministry of the Interior who will issue the corresponding guidelines, whatever that means. This eliminates certainty about their use, purpose and protection,” he explained.
He called on legislators to be aware of the risks of misuse of personal information and to guarantee the right to identity without disclosing our personal data.
Also without achieving an echo in his position, he demanded that the law specify what personal data will be collected and for what purposes.
“Without this, the margin for their improper use is enormous, there is no limit for their obtaining or for their use, Movimiento Ciudadano cannot accept that Mexican men and women are put in this state of vulnerability, not we can vote in favor of a law that does not clarify which data or for what reasons.
In favor, the deputy of the PRI Blanca Alcalá explained that the law aims to establish a new system that systematizes and standardizes criteria regarding the registration acts that are carried out before the competent authorities, such as the unique formats in terms of population registration and of certification.
“The prohibition of establishing in qualifying records that can stigmatize the registered person, such as an illegitimate or natural child, a child born or out of wedlock or of unknown parents, stands out,” he stressed.
He assured that with the new law the procedures and requirements regarding the Civil Registry are streamlined and standardized; costs are standardized and the procedure is simplified, providing certainty and confidence to the user; It facilitates, among other procedures, the rectification of records through administrative channels, eliminating lawsuits, among other benefits.
