Passports are your silent partner – whether you go to New York for Christmas shopping, skiing in Norway or on a business trip to Singapore. However, this freedom also generates the need for more security in border traffic, growing requirements that the present passports can no longer fulfill.

The future’s new generation of passports will also have integrated chip technology. Powerful microprocessors will make it possible to securely store travelers’ biometric features. This will give rise to non-forgeable border passage documents that will make global travel both more secure and more convenient.

The background to this move is the latest reform by the U.S. government, which requires all 27 countries that are not subject to visa restrictions to develop new travel documents with biometric features to take effect in October 2006 (actual schedule). At the same time, it stipulates this as a condition that must be met for further exemption from the visa obligation.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) works on standards for travel documents and has issued a recommendation for an electronic passport with biometric features stored on a contactless microprocessor chip. Contactless technology - similar to contactless smart cards - is the optimal solution for physical and logical identification of passport holders. The identification data is stored securely and can be used speedily and conveniently during passport checks without being visible to third parties.

Electronic data that complies with the ICAO specification:

• Biometric information:
  Passport photo (obligatory)
  Fingerprint / iris data (optional)
• Personal data:
  Name, date of birth, passport number, etc.

Secure chip technology from Sagem Orga for ePassports:
Sagem Orga offers contactless, smart chip technology that is compatible with the ICAO specifications and can be integrated in any IT infrastructure. We support the migration to chip-based ID documents with a comprehensive product and service package.