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Identity card (symbolic image)
Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand / dpa
According to a media report, the federal government is removing the doctorate title in front of the last name in identity cards and passports. The traffic light coalition is following “international customs,” the Düsseldorf-based “Rheinische Post” reported on Wednesday, citing a regulation from the Federal Ministry of the Interior that was available to the editorial team.
According to the regulation, the title should in future be entered in a newly created data field on the back of the identity card and in the passport. According to the document, prefixing the letters “Dr.” could cause irritation among foreign border authorities “as the two letters are often mistaken for the first letters of the family name.” This leads to delays in border controls, the report says.
"The coalition has agreed on a procedure that takes up a central part of our criticism and clears up misunderstandings when reading identification documents abroad," said Green Party parliamentary group leader Irene Mihalic to the newspaper.
wit/AFP