29 April 2022: The Biometrics Institute has released its updated Privacy Awareness Checklist, to help members of the Institute work through critical privacy issues right from the start of their biometric journey, and to remind them to treat privacy as a key issue in their organisation.

The Privacy Awareness Checklist (PAC) was first published in 2013. As with all its guiding material, the Institute conducts regular reviews of its guiding material to ensure they stay relevant and that any global changes in technology or legislation are reflected. The checklist is the result of extensive consultation by the Institute’s Privacy and Policy Expert Group (PEG) who engaged with other groups and key stakeholders to ensure that it covers a broad range of issues for different countries, jurisdictions, and sectors.

“Biometric technology continues to develop at pace, affecting a growing number of organisations worldwide,” says Isabelle Moeller, Chief Executive of the Biometrics Institute. “To aid members, the checklist is designed to be a simple and concise resource to raise awareness of privacy concerns whilst being universally useable. It encourages organisations to discuss their Personal Information processing, assess risks and threats, consider privacy awareness and training, and maintain a strong privacy and data protection environment.”

The membership organisation is launching its updated Privacy Awareness Checklist in Privacy Awareness Week (2-8 May 2022) whose theme this year is ‘Privacy: The foundation of trust’.

“Trust is at the centre of everything we do with biometrics,” adds The Hon Terry Aulich, Head of the PEG, “and it is an organisation’s responsibility to treat biometric data responsibly and ethically. The PAC will be an extremely useful tool to work through key considerations for biometrics and privacy.”

The Institute provides a range of good practice material to help guide its members, and the updated checklist references and is aligned to its Good Practice Framework and Privacy Guidelines.

The Biometrics Institute’s Privacy and Policy Expert Group comprises members from many countries and sectors and includes government privacy authorities, academics, social media organisations and legal experts.

ENDS.

Notes to editors:

The Biometrics Institute is the independent and impartial international membership organisation for biometric users and other interested parties. It was established in 2001 to promote the responsible and ethical use of biometrics and has offices in London and Sydney.

The member register which represents a global and diverse multi-stakeholder community now lists over 200 membership organisations from 34 countries. It includes banks, airlines, government agencies, biometric experts, privacy experts, suppliers, academics and 10 Observers representing United Nations agencies, IGOs and European Union institution

The Biometrics Institute connects the global biometrics community. It shares knowledge with its members and key stakeholders and most importantly, develops good practices and thought leadership for the responsible and ethical use of biometrics.

For more information, please email Marco Lombardi: marco@biometricsinstitute.org