Identity Cards Act 2006

6 Issue etc. of ID cards E+W+S+N.I.

(1) For the purposes of this Act an ID card is a card which—

(a) is issued to an individual by the Secretary of State, or as part of or together with a designated document; and

(b) does, as respects that individual, both of the things specified in subsection (2).

(2) Those things are—

(a) recording registrable facts about the individual that are already recorded as part of his entry in the Register;

(b) carrying data enabling the card to be used for facilitating the making of applications for information recorded in a prescribed part of the individual's entry in the Register, or for otherwise facilitating the provision of that information to a person entitled to be provided with it.

(3) An ID card issued to an individual—

(a) must record only the prescribed information;

(b) must record prescribed parts of it in an encrypted form;

(c) is valid only for the prescribed period; and

(d) remains the property of the person issuing it.

(4) Except in prescribed cases, an ID card must be issued to an individual if he—

(a) is entitled to be entered in the Register or is subject to compulsory registration; and

(b) is an individual about whom the prescribed registrable facts are recorded in the Register;

but this subsection does not require an ID card to be issued as part of or together with a designated document issued on an application made in a case falling within subsection (7)(a) to (c).

(5) In prescribed cases an ID card may be issued to an individual who—

(a) is not required to be issued with one; but

(b) is an individual about whom the prescribed registrable facts are recorded in the Register.

(6) An ID card relating to an individual is not to be issued except on an application made by him which either—

(a) accompanies an application made by him to be entered in the Register; or

(b) in the prescribed manner confirms (with or without changes) the contents of an entry already made in the Register for that individual.

(7) Where an individual who is not already the holder of an ID card makes an application to be issued with a designated document, his application must, in the prescribed manner, include an application by him to be issued with such a card unless—

(a) it is being made before 1st January 2010;

(b) the designated document applied for is a United Kingdom passport (within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 (c. 77)); and

(c) the application for that document contains a declaration by that individual that he does not wish to be issued with such a card.

(8) Other applications for the issue of an ID card—

(a) may be made only in the prescribed manner;

(b) may be made to the Secretary of State or, in prescribed cases, to a designated documents authority; and

(c) must be accompanied by the prescribed information;

and regulations for the purposes of paragraph (b) may authorise an application to be made to a designated documents authority irrespective of whether an application is made to that authority for the issue of a designated document.

(9) The Secretary of State must not make regulations containing (with or without other provision) any provision for prescribing—

(a) the information to be recorded in or on an ID card,

(b) the form in which information is to be recorded in or on such a card, or

(c) the registrable facts which are to be relevant for the purposes of subsection (4)(b),

unless a draft of the regulations has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House.