Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 16 April 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Raad van State — Netherlands) — W.P. Willems v Burgemeester van Nuth, (C-446/12), H.J. Kooistra vBurgemeester van Skarsterlân(C-447/12), M. Roest v Burgemeester van Amsterdam(C-448/12), L.J.A. van Luijk v Burgemeester van Den Haag (C-449/12)
(Joined Cases C-446/12 to C-449/12) 1
(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Area of freedom, security and justice — Biometric passport — Biometric data — Regulation (EC) No 2252/2004 — Article 1(3) — Article 4(3) — Use of data collected for purposes other than the issue of passports and travel documents — Establishment and use of databases containing biometric data — Legal guarantees — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Articles 7 and 8 — Directive 95/46/EC — Articles 6 and 7 — Right to privacy — Right to the protection of personal data — Application to identity cards)
Language of the case: Dutch
Referring court
Raad van State
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicants: W.P. Willems (C-446/12), H.J. Kooistra (C-447/12), M. Roest (C-448/12), L.J.A. van Luijk (C-449/12)
Defendants: Burgemeester van Nuth (C-446/12), Burgemeester van Skarsterlân (C-447/12), Burgemeester van Amsterdam (C-448/12), Burgemeester van Den Haag (C-449/12)
Operative part of the judgment
1. Article 1(3) of 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, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 444/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009, must be interpreted as meaning that that regulation is not applicable to identity cards issued by a Member States to its nationals, such as Netherlands identity cards, regardless of the period of validity and the possibility of using them for the purposes of travel outside that State;
2. Article 4(3) of Regulation No 2252/2004, as amended by Regulation No 444/2009, must be interpreted as meaning that it does not require the Member States to guarantee, in their legislation, that biometric data collected and stored in accordance with that regulation will not be collected, processed and used for purposes other than the issue of the passport or travel document, since that is not a matter which falls within the scope of that regulation.
________________________1 OJ C 26, 26.1.2013.