The Finnish government is looking into tightening rules about who can take passport photos, as it adjusts other legislation about the travel documents.
According to current passport photo rules, the main requirement is that the applicant should be easily identifiable in the photograph.
However, the government said it wants to require that the photos should be in colour and unedited, in order to ensure the images' authenticity.
According to the proposal, passport photos will need to be taken by individuals who are in the country's registry of businesses, with photography being their main area of activity.
The proposal says that the photographers must also be considered reliable and suitable, and they need to be identified in the national passport register.
"The photographer must be known to be fit and proper. Anyone subject to imprisonment or a corporate fine in the last three years, declared bankrupt, or banned from operating a business, whether temporarily or permanently, would not be considered fit and proper," the ministry explained in a press release.
On Tuesday, the interior ministry announced that it has submitted a draft amendment to the Passport Act and the Identity Card Act for comments.
If implemented, the amendment would also extend the validity of Finnish passports and ID cards to a period of 10 years. However, passports and ID cards issued to minors would continue to be issued for a maximum of five years, the ministry release said.
