Smart card passports
01 January 1991
Smart card passports
artdoc June=1994
Six of the twelve member states of the European Union have
concrete plans to introduce `smart cards' to replace the
traditional passport. Most advanced are the French, who will
start the introduction of the smart card in 1995 over a planned
ten-year period. In Holland an experiment with the `Schiphol
Travel Pass' was recently discontinued. About a thousand
frequently travelling participants had a smart card which allowed
them to clear customs through a dedicated checkpoint, where their
fingerprint was compared with the information registered in the
card. Schiphol officials declared that this method was too
cumbersome. All persons registered with the Aliens department
will receive a chipcard shortly which will allow the police to
check their identity. The present paper identity card is said to
be too vulnerable to tampering.
Statewatch Vol 4 no 2, March-April 1994