How much damage (cracks) is acceptable on a national identity card before it won't be accepted?

Question

My Swiss identity card has a crack on about a third of its height, in the middle. I have no reason to believe the RFID chip is damaged. All information is still legible.

Here's what the crack looks like, on a specimen :

Should I be concerned that it won't be accepted as legit ID when traveling abroad or when required to produce ID?

I tried to look for documentation of how much / what kind of damage is accepted on ID documents but couldn't find any. I guess this would be decided at the Schengen space level? If anyone has more success than I, I'd be interested.

Answer 1

Just so you know, your ID does not contain an RFID chip.

As for the crack, there's no hard and fast rule as to what damages are accepted - rather it depends on the judgment of border officers in other countries. The fact that the machine-readable code is intact means it would probably be fine at Swiss land borders and other internal Schengen borders (if a check is performed that is, which is common when entering Switzerland by bus).

At real border crossings, however, such as in the UK, you would probably be delayed as your identity is examined, while in non-EU/EFTA countries such as Turkey or Tunisia, it's unlikely you'd be let in.

I would get a new ID if I were you, at least if planning to venture outside of the EU/EFTA.