By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 22 November 2014:
A meeting was held yesterday between the head of Libya’s Civil Registry Authority, Mohamed Buker, . . .[restrict]and a delegation from the French company, Thales, regarding the French company’s proposals for the supply of “Family Smart Cards”.
The Civil Registry Authority reports that during the meeting Buker was insistent that Thales implement the project quickly in order to win the contract.
The Family Smart Card is intended to replace the current Libyan Family Book, which holds records of a family’s births, marriages and deaths. It acts as an important proof of identity as well as a birth certificate and proof of Libyan nationality.
It is also used in obtaining a Libyan passport and has been used by the state to distribute some allowances and benefits.
The Civil Registry Authority says that the advantages of using the new Family Smart Card would be the reduction of fraud and ease of use by citizens. The data about a family currently held in the paper Family Book would be stored electronically on the proposed smart card.
The move is part of a wider initiative by the Civil Registry Authority to improve the archives and databases of the Authority and to reduce identity and nationality fraud, the fraudulent duplication in jobs and benefits by Libyans and access to benefits by some non-Libyans. It is also part of an effort by the Civil Registry Authority to “protect Libyan nationality”, the Authority said.
The effort to reduce duplication and corruption is being conducted in conjunction with the use of the relatively new National ID Number and the new electronic passport. [/restrict]
