29.12.2004 Official Journal of the European Union L 385/1 | (Acts whose publication is obligatory) COUNCIL REGULATION (EC) No 2252/2004 of 13 December 2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 62(2)(a) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1), Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (3), Whereas: The European Council of Thessaloniki, on 19 and 20 June 2003, confirmed that a coherent approach is needed in the European Union on biometric identifiers or biometric data for documents for third country nationals, European Union citizens' passports and infor- mation systems (VIS and SIS II). Minimum  security standards for passports were introduced by a Resolution of the representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, on 17 October 2000 (%). It is now appropriate to upgrade this Resolution by a Community measure in order to achieve enhanced harmonised security standards for passports and travel documents to protect against falsification. At the same time biometric identifiers should be integrated in the passport or travel document in order to establish a reliable link between the genuine holder and the document. The harmonisation of security features and the inte- gration of biometric identifiers is an important step towards the use of new elements in the perspective of future developments at European level, which render the (1) O] C 98, 23.4.2004, p. 39. (3) Opinion of 2.12.2004 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () O] C 310, 28.10.2000, p. 1. travel document more secure and establish a more reliable link between the holder and the passport and the travel document as an important contribution to ensuring that it is protected against fraudulent use. The specifications of the International Civil Aviation Organi- sation (ICAO), and in particular those set out in Document 9303 on machine readable travel documents, should be taken into account. This Regulation is limited to the harmonisation of the security features including biometric identifiers for the passports and travel documents of the Member States. The designation of the authorities and bodies authorised to have access to the data contained in the storage medium of documents is a matter of national legislation, subject to any relevant provisions of Community law, European Union law or international agreements. This Regulation should lay down only such specifications that are not secret. These specifications need to be supplemented by specifications which may remain secret in order to prevent the risk of counterfeiting and falsifications. Such additional technical specifications should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (¥). The Commission should be assisted by the Committee established by Article 6 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1683/95 of 29 May 1995 laying down a uniform format for visas (°). In order to ensure that the information referred to is not made available to more persons than necessary, it is also essential that each Member State should designate not more than one body having responsibility for producing passports and travel documents, with Member States remaining free to change the body, if need be. For security reasons, each Member State should communicate the name of the competent body to the Commission and the other Member States. () OJ L 184, 17.7.1999, p. 23. () OJ L 164, 14.7.1995, p. 1. Regulation as last amended by the 2003 Act of Accession.