I occasionally run into places in Germany that request to see my passport rather than my EEA ID card—is this even legal? I thought that by EU law a passport and EU/EEA ID card are equivalent as ID and travel documents within the union.
I of course own a passport, but it’s quite inconvenient to bring along everywhere that may request to see it…
**EDIT**: This information from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identity_cards_in_the_European_Economic_Area#Identification_document) seems to state that also private actors within the EU are required to accept EEA ID cards:
>”EEA and Swiss citizens exercising their [right of free movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_2004/38/EC_on_the_right_to_move_and_reside_freely) in another EEA member state or Switzerland are entitled to use their national identity card as an identification document when dealing not just with government authorities, but also with private sector service providers. For example, where a supermarket in The Netherlands refuses to accept a German national identity card as proof of age when a German citizen attempts to purchase an age-restricted product and insists on the production of a Dutch-issued passport or driving licence or other identity document, the supermarket would, in effect, be discriminating against this individual on this basis of his/her nationality in the provision of a service, thereby contravening the prohibition in [Art 20(2) of Directive 2006/123/EC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_on_services_in_the_internal_market) of discriminatory treatment relating to the nationality of a service recipient in the conditions of access to a service which are made available to the public at large by a service provider.[[52]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identity_cards_in_the_European_Economic_Area#cite_note-62)”
​
But is there any chance of convincing a DHL employee of this when trying to pick up a package on the way home from work without having to run home to get my passport first?
3 comments
I have an EU/EEA ID card and it has caused me a lot of problems at times. From “But this ID-Card does not state where you live” to “The machine will not accept your ID”
Thus I always carry my Meldebescheinigung in my wallet and always bring my Passport when I have to deal with the post office or such.
If some piece of information that is actually required in the specific instance is not on the ID document, it is not unreasonable to require a different ID or an additional document.
For picking up a parcel, requiring an address makes sense. The address label of the parcel doesn’t state the date and place of birth, eye color, etc. of the recipient, and assuming that a different person with the same name exists is far from unreasonable. Even German nationals who use a passport rather than a *Personalausweis* have to additionally present a Meldebestätigung when their address needs to be verified, so it would be hard to argue that this is nationality-based discrimination.
For age verification when buying alcohol or tobacco, on the other hand, there is zero reason to check the address. So they should accept it just fine.
I didn’t have any problems so far with my Cypriot ID card. But indeed, as you say, EU/EEA ID cards *must* be accepted. BVG at least is a public corporation, so you can probably file a complaint with the Berlin Ombuds.