European Union – Immigration. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling, deciding, amongst other things that, art 1(3) of Regulation (EC) 2252/2004 (on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States) should be interpreted as meaning that that regulation was not applicable to identity cards issued by a member states to its nationals, such as Netherlands identity cards, regardless of the period of validity and the possibility of using them for the purposes of travel outside that state.