EU Court of Justice orders citizens of member states to carry ID cards while travelling

While hearing a plea regarding a Finnish citizen who made a round trip between Finland and Estonia on a boat in August 2015, the European Union Court of Justice said that a member state had the power to demand its citizens to carry a valid identification card when visiting another member state, news agency Sputnik reported on Wednesday.

The court noted that the traveller must have a citizenship card or identification card regardless of the means of transport. "A Member State may require its nationals to carry a valid identity card or passport when travelling to another Member State, irrespective of the means of transport used and the itinerary, subject to sanctions," the court said in a statement. 

Read the detailed statement here:

Notably, the decision came in a six-year-old case, when a Finnish citizen passed the international waters between the two nations without having his valid passport with him. According to the law, if a person passes the international border by any means without having a valid identity card, it is a punishable offence and the court can charge a fine of up to 20% of the offender's net monthly income, reported Sputnik. However, the offender found the law violated his freedom of movement provided for in Article 21 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and subsequently he chose to fight the case in the Supreme Court of Finland. However, the Apex court found the case a bit complicated and transferred it to the Court of Justice. 

Offender had his driving license; not sufficient to prove his nationality: Court

In its judgment, the Court clarifies the conditions under which an obligation to carry an identity card or passport may be imposed, on pain of sanctions, possibly of a criminal nature, when travelling to a Member State other than that of which the person concerned is a national. "The Court observes that, while it is open to the Member States to impose a fine in order to penalise a breach of a formal requirement relating to the exercise of a right conferred by Union law, that fine must be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence," the statement read. The court noted that the offender had his driving license, but, it was not sufficient to prove his nationality.

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