Veridos supports ICAO standard update for biometric verification of travel documents

Veridos has welcomed the creation of the 8th edition of the Doc 9303, recently released by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), as a step forward for traveler digital identity.

Doc 9303 defines the specifications for machine-readable Travel Documents like biometric passports. The standards have a long history, with the first edition being published in 1980. With the introduction of the 8th version of Doc 9303, ICAO has now incorporated existing Technical Reports as well as making several changes to the existing documentation.

“We welcome the new ICAO specifications,” commented Veridos CEO Andreas Räschmeier. “They optimize the security of travel documents, improve the interoperability of systems, and increase the convenience of verification procedures.”

The new guidelines extend support to new ISO/IEC standards for the encoding of biometric face, finger, and iris image data.

This not only improves travelers’ biometric verifications but also allows the technology to be future-proofed by allowing new data elements to be added without the need for all inspection systems to immediately recognize them.

In addition, Doc 9303 now introduces compatibility with specifications for Visible Digital Seals (VDS) for visa and emergency travel documents.

The technology consists of a two-dimensional barcode with cryptographically signed biographical data and additional data and is designed to combat forgery of travel documents.

Finally, the new ICAO standards now include support for Card Access Number (CAN), a six-digit number that can be contained in a chip (e.g. in a passport,) and read by smartphones via NFC to simplify the mobile verification of documents using the PACE (Password Authenticated Connection Establishment) protocol.

“Veridos is proud to supply our customers with ICAO-compliant identity documents and systems and to contribute to secure travel for millions of citizens around the world,” Räschmeier concluded.

Article Topics

biometric passport  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  ICAO  |  identity verification  |  interoperability  |  machine readable travel document  |  standards  |  travel documents  |  Veridos