http://www.gnn.tv/headlines/2149/French_may_have_to_buy_compulsory_biometric_ID_cards
Peter Sayer
"French citizens will have to pay for new identity cards that hold their biometric information in electronic format �and carrying the cards will become compulsory, if the minister of the interior gets his way.
Last month, the government outlined its plan to replace the identity cards and passports offered to French citizens with new ones that carry a microchip containing digitized photographs and fingerprints. The plan is to introduce the passports in 2006, and the identity cards a year later."
