FAQs

MRTD is the acronym for Machine Readable Travel Document, a category of documents that comply with ICAO specification 9303 that include passports, visa and other related documents such as national ID cards. This specification defines the overall document layout and elements required to be machine readable.

An MRP is a Machine Readable Passport. As illustrated below, a machine readable passport follows the guidelines defined by ICAO regarding the layout of personal information on the document's data page. All ICAO-compliant machine-readable passports issued around the world are laid out using the same format. This includes the presence of a machine readable zone (MRZ) at the bottom of the page.

The Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) is the area at the bottom of the data page of an ICAO-compliant Machine Readable Travel Document that provides a summary of the document's key information. This information is laid out in a very specific format, in a specific location on the document and is printed in a specific font to facilitate the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) process. An example of an MRZ is provided below. This portion of the document defines the type of document involved, the issuing nation, document number, document expiry date, the document holder's name, data of birth and gender as well as some security calculations derived from this data to protect the accuracy of the data.

Given that all ICAO-compliant passports provide a photograph of the passport-holder's face, in its broadest sense, all passports are effectively biometric passports. Recently, US legislators have adopted the term "biometric passport" to denote a machine readable travel document that features a photograph that has been printed to the data page (rather than using a separate photograph that is pasted onto the page). Printed photographs offer a higher level of security by inhibiting fraud through photo substitution. In this context, "biometric passports" are simply interim precursors to ePassports.

An ePassport is a passport that has been augmented with a contact-less integrated circuit chip. The chip of an ICAO compliant ePassport contains electronic data in a designated format. The data stored on the chip includes such things as a copy of the bearer's image, a copy of the bearer's personal data (name, date of birth, etc.) and, optionally, images of the bearer's finger print or iris scan. An additional optional feature of the ePassport is the use of cryptography to protect the privacy of the document holder as well as to render tampering of the data more difficult.

The ePassport's chip is of the type "Write-Once, Read-Many" that is sometimes stated using the ugly WORM acronym. Once personalized with the passport holder's data, the content of chip cannot be changed.

No. While an ePassport (passport with built-in contact-less integrated circuit) will most likely be an ICAO compliant Machine Readable Passport (MRP), an MRP does not need to be equipped with a chip to be Machine Readable. All ICAO ePassports are MRPs but not all MRPs are ePassports.

ICAO is the acronym for the International Civil Aviation Organization, an organization operated by the United Nations. Among its many responsibilities, the ICAO has defined an international standard format for travel documents that is used by most of the world's nations.

OCR is the acronym for Optical Character Recognition. This is the process used by computer to interpret an image in order to extract text that may be found within the image.

No single unique security feature, regardless of its cost or complexity, can make a document secure from duplication or tampering. It's the combination of all security features implemented within a document that make it more secure.

BAC is the acronym for Basic Access Control. This is a communication methodology used between ePassports and ePassport Readers over a radio frequency link. Basic Access Control uses a technology called Secure Messaging to ensure that all data exchanged between the ePassport and the ePassport Reader is encrypted. An ePassport that takes advantage of BAC requires that the Reader has prior knowledge of the document number, expiry date and date of birth of the passport holder to access to the remainder of the data (photos, etc.) stored on the ePassport's chip. This requires that the MRZ be optically read before data communication with the chip can be initiated thus protecting the document holder's privacy. (Attempting to communicate with a closed passport book will not provide access to any useful information).

It is a patented process and method for producing a variation of integral imaging which was first described in a scientific journal from 1908.

It consists of a construction of a micro-image array by exposure through an arrangement of microscopic lenses. Each micro-image is determined by a lenslet which projects a unique view of the object.

A patented and proprietary 3M technology uses glass bead retroreflective incident light creating a covert image visible using a handheld collimated light source.

When the floating image has been cut, destroyed by solvents or heat, or written over, it is very evident not only to the naked eye, but also under a handheld light source. The laminate is very fragile and cannot be altered or counterfeited without drawing attention to the instance.

Yes. We work with all customers in customizing not only the floating image, but the covert (underlying) image as well.

The 3M Confirm Laminate with Floating Image for Composite Cards is the solution for you. It allows you to print as many or as few ID cards as you need by using an over-the-counter tabletop printer. 3M can provide you with the printer, supplies, composite cards, software and the Confirm Laminate to meet your needs.

Currently, many US states and world-wide countries use the Confirm Laminate in their driver's licenses, ID cards, and passports. Confirm has been around for over 30 years.

Security can add to the visual enhancement of a document and 3M can offer you both overt and covert security features. Confirm has excellent durability for long service life, a superb tamper resistance, patented technology, and it is made and shipped from an undisclosed secure location. Issuers around the world have trusted 3M Confirm for years to protect their documents and ID cards.