NationStates Jolt Archive

This is my proposal, which has been submitted. It is currently on page 7 of the proposals list, for all delegates who may wish to endorse it. For some reason the search function doesn't work at all, so I can't get a direct link to it.


Passport Harmonization Act
International Security - mild

NOTING the increased level of international travel,

RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international borders, where multilateral identification agreements do not exist, in order to increase border security,

NOTING the lack of a standard system for passports among many WA member nations,

FURTHER NOTING that differences between passport systems may hinder the ability of officials to determine the authenticity of foreign passports,

DEFINES a passport as a document detailing the identity and nationality of its bearer,

MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient identification for entry into a nation,

ALLOWING further entry requirements to be instated by nations,

ESTABLISHES the WA Passport Commission, or WAPC,

MANDATES that all passports contain the name and a clear image of the holder, as well as other WAPC mandated information in a conspicuous location on or within the passport,

CHARGES the WAPC with the establishment of passport standards including, but not limited to:
i. Name, birth date, birthplace, nationality, and other informational items
ii. Accurate visual facial representations of passport bearers
iii. Identification numbers or codes
iv. Anti-counterfeiting measures
v. Layout and location of information on or within the passport

REQUIRES that all WA nations abide by the regulations made by the WAPC,

MANDATES that border guards be trained to recognize and verify the authenticity of WAPC-approved passports,

ALLOWS nations to add additional information, provided it does not interfere with WAPC mandates,

LIMITS issuing and production of passports to national governments, or their duly appointed agencies,

PROHIBITS the production, use, and sale of counterfeit passports.

So, as always, comments and constructive criticism are welcomed.

Not all passports are paper based. My own nation uses a plastic and microchip ID badge version of passport since we're space based.

We do use standard WA paper based identification to travel on Earth with.

At this point I don't think you need to go into the specifics of the bar code and the unique code. I'm sure the WA tech gnomes can think of a way to make each passport issued in the WA unique in that way.

Although given the sheer numbers of citizens in WA nations would 20 alphanumeric symbols give enough combinations?

I looked at you comments, and I find them valid. I also looked at the old UN proposal on the same topic, and have basically re-written mine to include some of your and its points. I've re-posted it in the first post.


BTW, I know I'm being petty, but I just have to say in defence of my alphanumeric codes: if my math is correct, even with ten digits, every nation in the game could have 37 billion people and still have codes left over.

It's 'border'.

I don't recall offhand how this was categorized in the old UN, but I do recall that Hack and I discussed deleting it because of miscategorization. You need to provide a category and effect, and some justification as to why it belongs there. Otherwise, it's not gonna fly.

It's 'border'.
Sorry. I always misspell that one.


I think the old one was Political Stability-Mild. And I think it didn't quite fit.

Perhaps International Security - mild
After all, if you can't control who's in your nation, you might accidentally let in a terrorist. And I would imagine police budgets, or at least border patrol budgets, would increase mildly with this.

Or Free Trade - mild
Without the hassles at the border, it's a lot easier for people to go from place to place for tourism and business.

CHARGES the WAPC with the establishment of passport standards including, but not limited to:
i. Name, birth date, birthplace, nationality, and other informational items
ii. Photographic representations of passport bearers
iii. Identification numbers or codes
iv. Computerized scanning mechanisms such as bar codes, matrix codes, or computer chips
v. Layout and location of information on or within the passportthe WAPC should probably be tasked to release information of a certain person's whereabouts upon a government's request although it can't be included in the parameters listed above since it is not a passport standard .

OOC: The guy that did the original is still pretty active, you might wanna ask if he doesn't just want to redo it.

the WAPC should probably be tasked to release information of a certain person's whereabouts upon a government's request although it can't be included in the parameters listed above since it is not a passport standard .

That, and there's also no provision that allows the WAPC to keep tabs on where people are, nor do I think it would pass if it did.


OOC: The guy that did the original is still pretty active, you might wanna ask if he doesn't just want to redo it.
Right, but I jumped on it first, and have one already written up that is, in my opinion, more concise and more to the point of passports, rather than political rights of international travelers.

Are there any more suggestions? Also, what is the ruling on this as International Security - mild?

IS, Mild seems a sensible choice to me. If it's deemed to be too much of a stretch, it would probably be easy to pare it up by adding some fairly innocuous language about requiring nations to train their border guards to recognise the passports and to prevent the counterfeiting of them - something that would definitely come out of military or police budgets. Hell, that latter thing might be an idea anyway.

Given the brevity of the proposal text, we wonder of the need for a committee. You have room to at least try specifying all the details in the proposal text. Otherwise, once the requirements are set out, the WAPC is going to be a pretty pointless agency. I mean, at present, and I don't want to seem too critical because I like this as an idea of a suitably international subject for the WA to deal with, it reads a bit like we're establishing a committee to sort out something we can't be bothered to decide for ourselves. Well, ok, but that's a bit boring.

-- Samantha Benson
etc.

MANDATES that all citizens of WA member states carry passports while crossing international boundaries, except where unnecessary due other multi-national border agreementsIn my opinion, passports should be necessary to cross borders. What may be unnecessary are visas, which are regulated nationally by each nation.

You are simply negating the second statement:
RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international borders,

Simon Coward
National Center for WA Affairs

MANDATES that all citizens of WA member states carry passports while crossing international boundaries, except where unnecessary due other multi-national border agreements
In my opinion, passports should be necessary to cross borders. What may be unnecessary are visas, which are regulated nationally by each nation.

I would mention the example of Audland and Kedalfax, two nations in my region (my puppets). These two nations only require a drivers license or approved student ID to cross the boarder, because they have such close relations. They don't need passports, because they train their boarder patrol officers to validate those non-passport IDs. Or, for a RL example, the US and Canada back in the good old days.


You are simply negating the second statement:
RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international borders,

Simon Coward
National Center for WA Affairs
True. I hadn't realized that before. How about "RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international boarders, where multilateral identification agreements do not exist,"


IS, Mild seems a sensible choice to me. If it's deemed to be too much of a stretch, it would probably be easy to pare it up by adding some fairly innocuous language about requiring nations to train their border guards to recognise the passports and to prevent the counterfeiting of them - something that would definitely come out of military or police budgets. Hell, that latter thing might be an idea anyway.
Adding MANDATES that boarder guards be trained to recognize and verify the authenticity of WAPC-approved passports

Given the brevity of the proposal text, we wonder of the need for a committee. You have room to at least try specifying all the details in the proposal text. Otherwise, once the requirements are set out, the WAPC is going to be a pretty pointless agency. I mean, at present, and I don't want to seem too critical because I like this as an idea of a suitably international subject for the WA to deal with, it reads a bit like we're establishing a committee to sort out something we can't be bothered to decide for ourselves. Well, ok, but that's a bit boring.

-- Samantha Benson
etc.
The problem I ran into with that was specifying standards that didn't involve traditional paper-based passports. I don't want to limit people to paper passports, especially if it means the potential loss of the FT vote. Plus, my proposal contains no fewer specifications about the standards than the original UN proposal.

Forget the original UN proposal, I'm talking about yours. I don't see why techiness is an issue. So long as you require, for example, that each individual's passport bear a clear, recognisable and distinguishable image of themselves, it doesn't really matter if Glogians use a stone tablet, we use a paper passport, and the Cyberrepublic of Techwankia uses a hyperintelligent shade of the colour blue, so long as they all conform. A passport based on an information chip can still carry all the information of a paper document: in fact, that's the point.

-- Samantha Benson

Good point. How about this:


MANDATES that all passports contain the name and a clear image of the holder, as well as other WAPC mandated information in a conspicuous location on or within the passport.

and the Cyberrepublic of Techwankia uses a hyperintelligent shade of the colour blue,

-- Samantha Benson

But who would use a Hooloovoo as a passport?

Timothy Schmidt
Bob Flibble's PA

Good point. How about this:
That's fine, but totally irrelevant. My point is not to establish the WAPC in the first place because in your proposal text you can specify all the necessary details. You have hundreds upon hundreds of spare characters to use, so employ them requiring, for example, the full legal name, an accurate likeness, date and place of birth, and whatever other details we deem to be consequent to passport security.

And it is still 'border'.

-- Samantha Benson

I don't know, I prefer the committee system with "including but not limited to" as it get's round the tech problems. For this reason, I would change vi. (which has problems if you are a past tech nation) to something more generic, such as "anti-counterfeit measures as sanctioned by the WAPC" and merely urge the inclusion of electronic systems, and change ii. to "accurate facial reperesentation" as opposed to photographs. Microchip and electronic type passports would still be fine, as would Glogian stone tablets and Cobdenian blue bound handwritten passports.
It would also have something such as a recommendation to increase border security, to make it more "International Security"-ish

True. I hadn't realized that before. How about "RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international boarders, where multilateral identification agreements do not exist,"

I don't think a change there is necessary, since it's just a general statement in the preamble. It isn't an actionable clause, it's just laying out the general prinicples, so I think it's alright.

I think the problem here, and with the other bit under discussion, is that the documentation requirements for entering a country are set by that country. We're approaching it from the wrong direction when we say "Citizens of WA members must carry passports when going to another country except..." because requiring a valid passport for entry just happens to be a general international standard. Dipping into RL, the Schengen treaty members in Europe don't even have border checkpoints within the zone.

MANDATES that all citizens of WA member states carry passports while crossing international boundaries, except where unnecessary due other multi-national border agreements

What about those nationals of WA member states who aren't "citizens"?

Quod, I'll have to side with Cobdenia on this one. And on that note, I'll be making those changes.

I don't think a change there is necessary, since it's just a general statement in the preamble. It isn't an actionable clause, it's just laying out the general prinicples, so I think it's alright.

I think the problem here, and with the other bit under discussion, is that the documentation requirements for entering a country are set by that country. We're approaching it from the wrong direction when we say "Citizens of WA members must carry passports when going to another country except..." because requiring a valid passport for entry just happens to be a general international standard. Dipping into RL, the Schengen treaty members in Europe don't even have border checkpoints within the zone.
Right, but that's another multi-lateral agreement. And if we don't require that these are the passports that are used, it doesn't do much good. Unless you have a suggestion of another direction to take, I really can't do anything to it.

What about those nationals of WA member states who aren't "citizens"?
Good point.

And now the revised version:
NOTING the increased level of international travel,

RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international borders, where multilateral identification agreements do not exist, in order to increase border security

NOTING the lack of a standard system for passports among many WA member nations,

FURTHER NOTING that differences between passport systems may hinder the ability of officials to determine the authenticity of foreign passports,

DEFINES a Passport as a document detailing the identity and nationality of its bearer

MANDATES that all citizens and nationals of WA member states carry passports while crossing international boundaries, except where unnecessary due other multi-national border agreements

MANDATES that all passports contain the name and a clear image of the holder, as well as other WAPC mandated information in a conspicuous location on or within the passport.

ESTABLISHES the WA Passport Commission, or WAPC

CHARGES the WAPC with the establishment of passport standards including, but not limited to:
i. Name, birth date, birthplace, nationality, and other informational items
ii. Accurate, visual facial representations of passport bearers
iii. Identification numbers or codes
iv. Anti-counterfeiting measures
v. Layout and location of information on or within the passport

REQUIRES that all WA nations abide by the regulations made by the WAPC

MANDATES that border guards be trained to recognize and verify the authenticity of WAPC-approved passports

ALLOWS nations to add additional information, provided it does not interfere with WAPC mandates

Nitpick:

ii. Accurate, visual facial representations of passport bearers
Lose the comma.

You've never actually said what category and strength you (as distinct from everyone else who's chipped in) think this is, by the way.

--
Cerys Coch, Permanent Undersecretary

You should also prohibit counterfeiting of passports, and such products should be treated as illegal items. This is important, because counterfeited passports can be used in international crime and terrorism.

-- Samantha Benson

Nitpick:

Lose the comma.

You've never actually said what category and strength you (as distinct from everyone else who's chipped in) think this is, by the way.

--
Cerys Coch, Permanent Undersecretary
I did, (International Security - mild) but it's pretty buried. I'll put that up on the first post. And, I'll lose the comma.
You should also prohibit counterfeiting of passports, and such products should be treated as illegal items. This is important, because counterfeited passports can be used in international crime and terrorism.

-- Samantha Benson
Good point, added. Though, is there a better placement for that clause, to make it read better?


Passport Harmonization Act
International Security - mild

NOTING the increased level of international travel,

RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international borders, where multilateral identification agreements do not exist, in order to increase border security

NOTING the lack of a standard system for passports among many WA member nations,

FURTHER NOTING that differences between passport systems may hinder the ability of officials to determine the authenticity of foreign passports,

DEFINES a Passport as a document detailing the identity and nationality of its bearer

MANDATES that all citizens and nationals of WA member states carry passports while crossing international boundaries, except where unnecessary due other multi-national border agreements

MANDATES that all passports contain the name and a clear image of the holder, as well as other WAPC mandated information in a conspicuous location on or within the passport.

ESTABLISHES the WA Passport Commission, or WAPC

CHARGES the WAPC with the establishment of passport standards including, but not limited to:
i. Name, birth date, birthplace, nationality, and other informational items
ii. Accurate visual facial representations of passport bearers
iii. Identification numbers or codes
iv. Anti-counterfeiting measures
v. Layout and location of information on or within the passport

REQUIRES that all WA nations abide by the regulations made by the WAPC

MANDATES that border guards be trained to recognize and verify the authenticity of WAPC-approved passports

ALLOWS nations to add additional information, provided it does not interfere with WAPC mandates

PROHIBITS the production, use, and sale of counterfeit passports.

If you're going to prohibit counterfeits, you probably want to say who can issue recognised passports. Something like "national governments or their duly appointed agents" for their nationals; sorry, but I'm too tired to suggest proper phrasing.

--
Cerys Coch, Permanent Undersecretary

MANDATES that all citizens and nationals of WA member states carry passports while crossing international boundaries, except where unnecessary due other multi-national border agreements

I think this would be better as "MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient identification for entry into a nation" or something along those lines. If nations want to let everyone and their dog inside the country, that's fine; the point is to have a standard (i.e. universal) system for documenting identities.

Carlton Brooks
Interim Secretary of State

:Dthis would be good idea to ease travel and make a decline in unessary burecracy also it allows border controll to have less lanes of diffrent passport nationaliites

The wording of the last clause is fine, though I agree with Undersecretary Coch's point.

-- Samantha Benson

If you're going to prohibit counterfeits, you probably want to say who can issue recognised passports. Something like "national governments or their duly appointed agents" for their nationals; sorry, but I'm too tired to suggest proper phrasing.

--
Cerys Coch, Permanent Undersecretary

I think this would be better as "MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient identification for entry into a nation" or something along those lines. If nations want to let everyone and their dog inside the country, that's fine; the point is to have a standard (i.e. universal) system for documenting identities.

Carlton Brooks
Interim Secretary of State
Good ideas.


Newest Version:

NOTING the increased level of international travel,

RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international borders, where multilateral identification agreements do not exist, in order to increase border security

NOTING the lack of a standard system for passports among many WA member nations,

FURTHER NOTING that differences between passport systems may hinder the ability of officials to determine the authenticity of foreign passports,

DEFINES a Passport as a document detailing the identity and nationality of its bearer

MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient identification for entry into a nation

MANDATES that all passports contain the name and a clear image of the holder, as well as other WAPC mandated information in a conspicuous location on or within the passport.

ESTABLISHES the WA Passport Commission, or WAPC

CHARGES the WAPC with the establishment of passport standards including, but not limited to:
i. Name, birth date, birthplace, nationality, and other informational items
ii. Accurate visual facial representations of passport bearers
iii. Identification numbers or codes
iv. Anti-counterfeiting measures
v. Layout and location of information on or within the passport

REQUIRES that all WA nations abide by the regulations made by the WAPC

MANDATES that border guards be trained to recognize and verify the authenticity of WAPC-approved passports

ALLOWS nations to add additional information, provided it does not interfere with WAPC mandates

LIMITS issuing and production of passports to national governments, or their duly appointed agencies.

PROHIBITS the production, use, and sale of counterfeit passports.

I've gone over the proposal one more time, and I moved one clause to give some more clarity. I think it's ready to be submitted. So in about 24 hours I'll submit it. Any final comments before I do?

NOTING the increased level of international travel,

RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international borders, where multilateral identification agreements do not exist, in order to increase border security,

NOTING the lack of a standard system for passports among many WA member nations,

FURTHER NOTING that differences between passport systems may hinder the ability of officials to determine the authenticity of foreign passports,

DEFINES a passport as a document detailing the identity and nationality of its bearer,

MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient identification for entry into a nation,

ESTABLISHES the WA Passport Commission, or WAPC,

MANDATES that all passports contain the name and a clear image of the holder, as well as other WAPC mandated information in a conspicuous location on or within the passport,

CHARGES the WAPC with the establishment of passport standards including, but not limited to:
i. Name, birth date, birthplace, nationality, and other informational items
ii. Accurate visual facial representations of passport bearers
iii. Identification numbers or codes
iv. Anti-counterfeiting measures
v. Layout and location of information on or within the passport

REQUIRES that all WA nations abide by the regulations made by the WAPC,

MANDATES that border guards be trained to recognize and verify the authenticity of WAPC-approved passports,

ALLOWS nations to add additional information, provided it does not interfere with WAPC mandates,

LIMITS issuing and production of passports to national governments, or their duly appointed agencies,

PROHIBITS the production, use, and sale of counterfeit passports.

\/Done.

Be consistent with punctuation.

MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient identification for entry into a nation,
This has the potential to start a thousand arguments along the lines of "I've got a passport, you have to let me into your nation, the WA says so." Per day. I think you have to add something pointing out that whether or not a passport is sufficient permission to enter a country is up to that country. Either that or recognise that a passport is not a visa, I'm not sure which would be better.

--
Cerys Coch, Permanent Undersecretary

This has the potential to start a thousand arguments along the lines of "I've got a passport, you have to let me into your nation, the WA says so." Per day. I think you have to add something pointing out that whether or not a passport is sufficient permission to enter a country is up to that country. Either that or recognise that a passport is not a visa, I'm not sure which would be better.

--
Cerys Coch, Permanent Undersecretary

Good point. It should be noted that a Passport is pre-requisite for entry into a nation granting that the nation requires ONLY a passport and that further requirements by the said nation should be met before entry is allowed.

-correction-
I stand corrected, i think this proposition is ok.MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient identification for entry into a nation,It only says a passport is "a sufficient document for identification of person". You might want to add the "further requirements by the said nation should be met before entry is allowed." part of my first message.

It only says a passport is "a sufficient document for identification of person".

Unfortunately it looks like it says it's sufficient to get you into a country. Hence me wanting something about it not necessarily being sufficient to get you in.

UN Taxation Ban, anyone?

--
Cerys Coch, Permanent Undersecretary

Unfortunately it looks like it says it's sufficient to get you into a country. Hence me wanting something about it not necessarily being sufficient to get you in.

let me bolden the letters where i say that that part of the proposal is already correct.

MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient IDENTIFICATION for entry into a nation,It only states that a passport is a sufficient document as a means to IDENTIFY a person. That's why "further requirements and pre-requisites by the said nation should be met before entry is allowed" should be added to avoid confusion.

Very good points. I hadn't even thought of that. I'm going to add that in:
NOTING the increased level of international travel,

RECOGNIZING the need for passports to identify persons crossing international borders, where multilateral identification agreements do not exist, in order to increase border security,

NOTING the lack of a standard system for passports among many WA member nations,

FURTHER NOTING that differences between passport systems may hinder the ability of officials to determine the authenticity of foreign passports,

DEFINES a passport as a document detailing the identity and nationality of its bearer,

MANDATES that passports be recognized as sufficient identification for entry into a nation,

ALLOWING further entry requirements to be instated by nations,

ESTABLISHES the WA Passport Commission, or WAPC,

MANDATES that all passports contain the name and a clear image of the holder, as well as other WAPC mandated information in a conspicuous location on or within the passport,

CHARGES the WAPC with the establishment of passport standards including, but not limited to:
i. Name, birth date, birthplace, nationality, and other informational items
ii. Accurate visual facial representations of passport bearers
iii. Identification numbers or codes
iv. Anti-counterfeiting measures
v. Layout and location of information on or within the passport

REQUIRES that all WA nations abide by the regulations made by the WAPC,

MANDATES that border guards be trained to recognize and verify the authenticity of WAPC-approved passports,

ALLOWS nations to add additional information, provided it does not interfere with WAPC mandates,

LIMITS issuing and production of passports to national governments, or their duly appointed agencies,

PROHIBITS the production, use, and sale of counterfeit passports.

I've just submitted the proposal to the WA. If anyone wants to help TG delegates, I would appreciate it. I'll post here who I've telegrammed. It won't be a long list, since I should really be working on a history paper, but I'm easily distracted so I might get a few in. Ooh, shiny thing!


Who's been telegrammed:
Simtropolis (The Digital Network)
Pagemaster (IDU)
Moo-cows with guns (The Pacific)

The Dominion fully supports this endeavor. Hopefully this resolution would be effective throughout the Assembly as Serra Avatar Council has already passed laws that would lead to the declaration of certain WA-member nationals to enter Serra Avatar visa-free.