US embassy cable - 05LJUBLJANA400

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000400 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR CA/VO/F/P (DLOPES DA ROSA, RAMOTOWSKI); EUR/NCE (VTRIMM); 
EUR/PPD (ARUPPE, FSCHMADEL); AND ECA/PE/V/R/E (KHAVENNER) 
DHS FOR BCBP (CRONIN); USEU FOR POL/PRM (MMEZNAR); ROME AND VIENNA 
FOR DHS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CMGT, PREL, KPAO, SI 
SUBJECT: VWP BIOMETRIC PASSPORT REQUIREMENTS: SLOVENES EXPECT NO 
PROBLEMS COMPLYING. 
 
REF: (A) STATE 111324 
 
     (B) 2002 LJUBLJANA 0940 
     (C) 2003 LJUBLJANA 0655 
     (D) STATE 047887 
     (E) LJUBLJANA 0191 
     (F) LJUBLJANA 0243 
     (G) LUBLJANA 0298 
     (H) LUBLJANA 0384 
 
1. Conoff delivered statement about USG policy on requirements for 
biometric passports for Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries to 
Slovene government officials June 15, as directed in Ref. A. 
Conoff discussed the issue in an afternoon meeting with Andrej 
Ster, Director General of the MFA's Directorate of International 
Law and Protection of Interests, and with Bojan Trnovsek, State 
Undersecretary of the MoI's Section of Citizens' Registration and 
Public Documents. 
 
2. Ster commented that the GoS would have no difficulty complying 
with any of the requirements made in the statement and suggested 
the timeline described would be workable.  In reviewing 
requirements outlined in the statement, Ster and Trnovsek noted 
the following: 
 
- All Slovene passports already comply with Level I - they 
incorporate a digitized photo image laser-etched onto a 
polycarbonate biodata page (Ref. B). 
 
- Slovenia already reports all lost and stolen passports to 
INTERPOL and DHS (Ref. C). 
 
- Slovene authorities already share information with DHS about 
lost and stolen passports intercepted and on trends and analysis, 
as detailed in Post's reporting (Reftels E,F,G and H) on the VWP 
Action Plan (Ref.D). Ster said he would confer with Slovene Police 
to ensure their procedures include advising DHS of interceptions 
of lost and stolen passports of all nationalities. 
 
3. Trnovsek said he expects Slovenia to be in compliance with 
Level II well before October 2006.  He said the Interior 
Ministry's plans to deploy a biometric passport by October 2005 
ran into unexpected delays recently.  A government commission 
ordered the Ministry to republish a public tender originally 
published in March that requested bids for producing the biometric 
passport.  With the tender being republished this week, the 
introduction of the new biometric passport has been pushed back to 
after the beginning of 2006. 
 
4. Ster said it would be very helpful to have details of the 
upcoming technical conferences as soon as possible to assist in 
preparations.  In particular he asked how many participants from 
each country would be invited.  Ster said the certification 
requested in the statement would be prepared immediately. 
 
 
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 2005LJUBLJ00400 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED 


 
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