Five ECOWAS member states select SPS for biometric national ID cards

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been carrying out a document standardization project to enable interoperability between the national ID systems of the group’s 15 countries. Now, Smart Packaging Solutions (SPS) has been selected by five member countries to provide them with biometric national ID cards under the project.

The ID cards are intended to facilitate the movement of people and goods throughout the region, which includes 350 million citizens, and to protect against fraud and identity theft. They include SPS’ Customized Antenna Image, which consists of an “aluminum watermark,” such as of a national symbol or acronym, which can be quickly checked by law enforcement officers in any lighting conditions to prove card authenticity. SPS provides full polycarbonate (PC) card inlay subsets in one of two forms to secure document manufacturers, with micromodules delivered in standard thickness or a thin version to accommodate different card structures.

“We are very proud to be the first supplier for ID card modules and antennas for the eID cards of five countries among ECOWAS members,” comments SPS ID Product Manager Dominique Charrie. “This demonstrates our technology totally fulfills government requirements and is acknowledged by card manufacturers as the most cost-efficient and giving the best results.”

ECOWAS countries include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, but the announcement does not specify which five have contracted SPS. Gambian National ID Cards have begun rolling out already, and President Adama Barrow urged all eligible citizens to pick up the biometric ID card, while Liberia launched its national biometric system, including ID cards, a year ago.

SPS recently launched a new industrial solution for dual-interface smart card manufacturing, along with partner Oasys Technologies UK.

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  e-ID  |  ECOWAS  |  national ID  |  Smart Packaging Solutions