Siemens provides Swiss ePassport update

Swiss citizens have been able to apply for ePassports as part of a pilot project since the end of 2006. In a project update Siemens IT Solutions and Services says it was commissioned to provide the solution for recording the biometric data and processing it for the production of the new passports. Each year about 100,000 passports can be issued.

During the pilot project, applicants’ biometric data is being recorded and processed in eight Registration Centers in Switzerland and at eight Swiss representations abroad. Siemens’ system is based on ID document readers and fingerprint scanners from CrossMatch Technologies, a photo capture station and camera from Digital Card Systems (DCS), and the Homeland Security Suite from Siemens, developed by the Biometrics Centre of Siemens PSE (Program and System Engineering) in Austria.

The facial image recognition software incorporated in the Siemens Homeland Security Suite comes from Cognitec Systems. In these Registration Centers and at selected Swiss airports, Swiss citizens can also exercise their right to compare and check the data stored in their passport against locally generated data on special checkpoint systems.

The pilot project will run at least until 2009, by which time Switzerland should have reached a final decision about the general introduction of biometric passports.