Full steam ahead for Macedonia ePassport

02 April 2007

Macedonia’s ePassport system will kick off later this month when 30 registration offices hosting 45 ePassport data capturing and entry stations open their doors for business throughout the country.

In addition to the 45 permanent stations for recording citizens’ photographs, digitalised signatures and biometric data, five mobile data entry stations from Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) will be used. Like the fixed stations, they will be equipped with a laptop, a camera, a signature pad and a fingerprint sensor.

The start of the data entry process also marks the beginning of a 10-year service and maintenance agreement between the Macedonian Interior Ministry and G&D. The contract additionally covers ID cards and driving licences, which are expected to be issued in the second half of 2007.

According to G&D, a total of 1.5 million passports should have been issued by the end of 2009 based on a secure solution from NXP. The company adds: “Since Macedonia selected a combined personalisation system, it will be able to produce not only ePassports but also personal identity documents and driving licences on the same equipment. The system comes with two identical personalisation lines that can produce a total of 2,000 passports, 2,400 ID cards and 600 driving licences a day.”

“It makes both financial and functional sense to go with a combined personalisation system; the decision will pay for itself,” says Hans Wolfgang Kunz, a member of G&D’s management board.