How to achieve interoperability of electronic passports

Electronic passport combines the classical passport booklet with a contactless chip. The chip stores information about the passport holder and the issuing institution in up to 16 data groups. The e-passport in general can store biometric information in the form of a facial photograph, fingerprint image and/or template and iris image. Within the EU it was decided to use the facial image and fingerprint images only. Due to function of a passport it is clear that interoperability is very important in this area. Passport must be usable at any border in the world. This holds true also for the electronic part. Not only must the inspection system be able to read the data from the passport. It must be also able to verify and interpret the data. Interoperability of electronic passports is a process which starts with specification standards continues with interoperability testing which can be divided into conformity tests and crossover tests. Fingerprints in the European passports are protected with an additional mechanism (EAC), not standardized at the ICAO level yet. To achieve interoperability in this area, EAC interoperability testing events are coordinated by the BIG (Brussels Interoperability Group).

RIHA Zdenek;  LOESCHNER Jan; 

2008-01-17

Internal Security Coordinating Office (Portugal)

JRC42082