Review Of National Identity Register (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (L.I 2523) – Obligations Of Financial Institutions And Other Service Providers

Introduction.
In the year 2008, Ghana passed the National Identity Register Act which was to provide for the capture of personal information of individuals by the National Identity Authority for the issue of National Identity Card; for the protection of the personal information; for the conditions for access, use, retention and disclosure of the information and other related matters. The Act provided for the registration of people, the establishment of the National Identity Register, the function of the National Identification Authority, eligibility for registration among others. Under section 73 of the Act 750, the Minister could on the advice of the Board by legislative instrument make regulations to inter alia prescribe the form for the application for registration, prescribe conditions and requirements for registration. In pursuance of section 73, the National Identity Register Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2111) was enacted which provided for the mandatory use of National Identity Card for various transactions in Ghana such as application and issuance of passport, drivers license, insurance policies, consumer credit transactions, voter registration, SIM card registration among others. The National Identity Register Regulations, 2012 (L.I 2111) provided that, an orgamisation that offers the related services shall demand the presentation of a national identity card from the individual concerned before providing the relevant service to the individual. This made the production of the Ghana Card as a condition precedent to access certain services. The L.I 2111 has been recently amended by the National Identity Register (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (L.I 2523), which have amended some provisions in L.I. 2111. The L.I 2523 received gazette notification on 27^th March 2026 and entered into force on 9^th June 2026. The Minister of Interior, however, gave a moratorium till Monday 2^nd November 2026 for all stakeholders to comply. In this paper, the Author seeks to examine the new legislation and the changes it has made, and the offence created under the new legislative regime.

Position of the law under Regulation 7 of L.I 2111, 2012 before the Amendment

Regulation 7 of LI 2111, 2012 provided for the Mandatory use of national identity card for certain transactions. Regulation 7(2) was to the effect that, “An organization that offers any of the services in respect of transactions listed under subregulation (1) shall demand the presentation of a national identity card from the individual concerned before providing the relevant service to the individual”. Without the National Identity Cards, certain transactions could not be carried out. The L.I 2111 provided that national identity cards (commonly called Ghana card) issued to an individual shall be used for transactions such as, application for and issuance of a passport, application for and issuance of a driver’s licence, opening of individual or personal bank accounts, purchase of insurance policies among other transactions. The law (L.I. 2111) made it mandatory for organizations that provided any of the above services to demand the presentation of the national identity card from the individuals concerned before providing the relevant service to him or her.

Amendment of Regulation 7 of L.I 2111, 2012

The L.I 2523 has amended Regulation 7 by substitution of sub regulation 2 for “An organization that offers any of the services in respect of a transaction listed under sub regulation (1) shall, before providing the relevant service to the individual, verify the identity of the individual concerned through biometric authentication against the National Identification Database through a secured link.” The new requirement is that the verification must be made biometrically through a secured link, which facility must be procured by the service providers. The law does away with the requirement of presenting the national identity card to verification by other means like biometric authentication against the National Identification Database.

Position of Regulation 9 of L.I. 2111, 2012 before the Amendment

Regulation 9 of L.I 2111 which provided that where a national identity card is provided to a person in compliance with the law and the person to whom it is provided has reason to believe that the card was not issued by the Authority, the authenticity could be ascertained by using a card reader to view the information on the national identity card from the data stored thereon or scan the card bearer’s fingerprint and match the template stored in the storage medium embodied thereon or the national identity database through a secured link.

Amendment of Regulation 9 by L.I 2523
The amendment L.I 2523 substitutes regulation 9 with a new regulation 9 that provides for the verification of identity by biometric match. The current position is that, where an individual produces a national identity card or a personal identification number of a Ghana card, it shall be verified through biometric verification or by using a portable identity card reader or a biometric device. The L.I 2523 provides that, “Where an individual produces a national identity card or the personal identification number of a national identity card to (a) a person in compliance with a request under regulation 7, or (b) a person specified under sub regulation 1 of regulation 8 in compliance with a request, that person shall verify the identity of the individual by biometric authentication.” Sub regulation 2 provides that “The person shall ascertain the authenticity of the national identity card or the personal identification number of the national identity card and verify the identity of the individual by using a portable identity card reader or biometric device to (a) view the information on the national identity card from the data stored in the storage medium embodied in the national identity card or stored in the National Identity Database; and (b) scan the fingerprint or live picture of the individual and match the template of the live print or live picture with the template that is stored in (i) the storage medium embodied in the national identity card; or (ii) the National Identity Database through a secured link.”

The L.I 2523 also provides in Regulation 9(3) that, “A person who, without reasonable excuse, refuses to surrender a national identity card to allow a law enforcement officer or an authorized person to (a) authenticate or scan a fingerprint on the national identity card, or (b) take a life picture of that person commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than fifty penalty units and not more than one hundred penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than two months and not more than six months or both”. The indication here is that a person is under obligation to surrender the national identity card to a law enforcement officer, when demanded, to authenticate or scan the fingerprint or take a live picture of that person, unless the person has a reasonable excuse for failing or refusing. It is to be noted that a penalty unit is equivalent to GHS12.00.

Beyond the above, the L.I 2523 further inserts regulation 9A that, “(1) An organization that obtains a national identity card for the purpose of a transaction specified under regulation 7 shall conduct a biometric verification of the national identity card through (a) a match-on-card verification; or (b) a verification against the Register, with the use of a device or an equipment approved by the Authority”.

Prohibitions and Offences
The L.I 2523 further prohibits organizations from doing the following in verifying the identity of an individual

1. rely on a visual inspection of a national identity card;
2. request, rely on or reproduce a photocopy, a scanned copy or image of a national identity card
3. employ any other biometric method that is not approved by the authority

A person who contravenes the above, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than GHS6,000.00 and not more than GHS24,000.00 in the case of a company and in the case of a partnership of any other to a fine of not less than GHS2,400.00 and not more than GHS12,000.00.

In addition to the above fines, the law imposes other sanctions such as suspension or terminating the access of the organization to the Identity Verification Services Platform or impose a surcharge on the organization.

Further, the L.I 2523 provides that an individual who wishes to confirm the identity of another individual in the course of a private or informal transaction shall conduct biometric verification in accordance with L.I 2523. The person who inspects a national identity card under the above regulation, shall not retain a photocopy, a scanned copy or an image of the card, record, store or share personal data obtained from the card except as permitted by law or with the consent of that other individual; or use a device or method purporting to conduct biometric verification unless with authorization of the Authority. The law imposes a fine of not less than GHS600.00 and not more than GHS6000.00 on anyone who contravenes Regulation 9B of L.I.2523.

The Author suggests that there are likely to be some challenges this legal regime will face regarding provision of certain services. For instance, if courts are effected by this legislation, in an application for Letters of Administration in Court, an applicant may need to prove the identity of the applicant or deceased and the only way to do this will be to exhibit or tender a national identity card, which practice has been prohibited by law. The question remains will the courts continue to accept national identity cards as proof of identity of deceased persons or applicants? In the absence of that what would be used in such circumstances when processes are being filed in the courts?

Conclusion
The National Identity Register (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (L.I. 2523) provides a new regime for verification of the identity of people accessing certain key services. It is important for service providers to acquire the facilities that allow them to verify the identity of such people without flouting the law. This is especially so when the moratorium given by the minister for Interior expires on the 2^nd November 2026. Affected Institutions that fail to comply with the requirement under L.I 2523 may suffer the penalties imposed under the law.