An identity and information management legislative framework for a smart Maltese legal system

Abstract

Identification processes are applied to various things and to persons as part of the normal administrative procedures and also for certain extraordinary tasks like contracts of a public nature for the transfer of immovable property or for private writings and other transactions concerning recorded agreements. The manner in which the identity management process is tackled can be of the utmost importance and significance particularly in relation to the manner in which official information can be managed in a standard and a more simplified manner. The scope for legal and administrative improvements in the management of identities is extended beyond the identity process normally applied at the person level through the national documents used as an Identity Card or a Passport. Other objects and things normally found under the geospatial classification and other artefacts from the organisational and digital objects classification will be included in the proposed changes. The identity of a natural Person is nowadays also being based on the use of biometrics. Historically the identity of a person was established through other more conventional information including simple attributes like the first name and the surname or family name and sometimes the nickname or the known-as name. These basic details have for many years been used together with the date and place of birth to uniquely identify a person. This method of person identification has been so used since the early days of the public registries. Beforehand similar registers were maintained and preserved by the ecclesiastical authorities. The baptisms and burials registers kept by the church parishes serve as the only source of reliable information for the years when the public registers were not yet established through the 1868 Ordinance which later evolved into the present Civil Code.