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Bruneians will soon be using biometric passports with the completion of a $7.1 million project by the month's end.

The biometric passport project is a joint undertaking between a local company, Information Technology Protective Security Service (ITPSS), and a German company Giesecke & Devrient (G&D).

The chief executive officer of ITPSS, Shamsul Bahri Hj Kamis, said that the e-passport project is scheduled to be completed this August.

The project is currently still at the application development stage.

Shamsul said that once completed the new biometric passports will be available to those whose passports have expired.

In February, the Immigration and National Registration Department committed itself to raise the security level of Bruneians passports with the inking of a contract for the e-passport project.

The biometric passport will be embedded with a 72-kilobyte chip, which will contain permanent data on the owner's facial and fingerprint images for identification.

Director of Immigration and National Registration Zainal Abidin Dato Paduka Hj Ahmad had said during the contract signing that the introduction of the e-passports would provide convenience to travelling Bruneians.

It will cut down on entry processing time when they enter specific countries, he said, adding that the project was in line with the need to use electronic passports stay abreast of the global ICT movement.

In addition, the e-passport will also ensure that the owner's identity and security of bearer's travel documents are secure.

Under the contract, ITPSS was to deploy and maintain the e-passport system, while German company G&D signed on for the production, supply and the secure delivery of biometric passport services.

The e-passport will fulfill international security standards set by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

With a "public key directory" introduced by the organisation, immigration personnel at control checkpoints can check the authenticity of the passports in real time. The project, the Immigration Department's e-government flagship scheme, is geared to step up security at immigration control points here in light of global security threats and terrorist attacks on other nations.

The sultanate, which issued its first travel documents in 1960, will be the third Asean country to implement biometric features for travel documents. In 1984, the state introduced the national passport, which was then revamped to the current machine-readable passport in 1993.

Currently, all EU member states, US, UK, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore as well as Brunei Darussalam are just some of the countries that have already begun endorsing the e-passport.

Brunei's existing border control system covers four entry points - Brunei International Airport, Kuala Lurah, Sungai Tujoh and Serasa.

Once the project is completed, the system could be employed at Kuala Belait, Anduki, Muara, Puin, Labu and Putat.

Autor(en)/Author(s): Asri Razak

Quelle/Source: Brunei Direct, 01.08.2007

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