MOSCOW, October 22 (RAPSI) – The State Duma passed in the first reading on Tuesday a bill typifying information concerning genetic traits of Russians citizens as personal data meant to be additionally protected.

Amendments are expected to be introduced into the Law on Personal Data.

According to the State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, the bill is to fill the lacuna in relation to the protection of biomaterial information about an individual with genetically significant details including health condition, way of life, behavior, susceptibility to medicine and allergens and other personal characteristics.

Biometric identification techniques have certain advantages compared to traditional systems, Volodin said. Biometric features cannot be lost or forgotten and hardly may be forged, he added.