First EU Edocument to Harmonize International Travel of European Representatives

Lisbon, Portugal, September 14, 2015 --(PR.com)-- In a pioneering initiative, a state-of-the-art high security eDocument is being issued to representatives of the European Union, as the Austrian State Printing House (OeSD) has been awarded the implementation of laissez-passer. A key partner of the project, Vision-Box is responsible for the entire biometric and biographic enrollment infrastructure, essential to guarantee quality not only in the personalization and issuance of eDocuments but also throughout the whole lifecycle.

It is the first travel document for EU representatives; it contains the highest security features ever; and it is meant to protect the individual identity of EU employees, reduce forgery and facilitate the identification and verification procedures of EU employees especially outside the EU, hence its name: laissez-passer.

The demanding 9-year project was awarded to the Austrian State Printing House (OeSD) and the partners Vision-Box and X-Infotech, whose joint expertise resulted in the delivery of an integrated set of end-to-end services and solutions. Starting with a high quality biometric and biographic enrollment, it goes through data preparation, production, personalization, delivery, installation of the life cycle management system, all the way to the maintenance of the deployed systems.

Vision-Box is responsible for the biometric and biographic data capture and processing infrastructure for the laissez-passer enrollment centers, located in three European cities. The process is simple and quick: EU employees have dedicated enrollment units which capture their face photo, fingerprint and digital signature. These units are equipped with user-centric design and interface leading to a positive, quick process, the camera is adjusting automatically to the height of each user and proactively adapting the light necessary for a perfect photo to the environment lighting. The process takes less than a minute.

For Jean-François Lennon, Vice-President for Global Business Development & Sales of Vision-Box, “A high quality biometric enrollment is the first step for a trusted life cycle of a document, that’s why it is so important. Biometric data represents the most reliable form of identification, given the inability to copy it or lose it. The innovative laissez-passer is definitely a step ahead in the protection of identity of EU representatives travelling around the world.”

”We are pleased to implement another project with Vision-Box, as they complement perfectly with the Austrian State Printing House for a customized turn-key solution,” says Claudia Schwendimann, Executive Director of OeSD.

The enrollment solution in place includes vb e-pass® kiosks and vb e-pass® portables (portable enrollment units in a suitcase format to ease and speed up onsite processes), which combine all functionalities and quality assurance criteria needed for a flawless capture of biometric and biographic data, complying with the international recommendations of ICAO, NIST and the EU specifications for Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTD), and is recognized by all major International Authorities around the world.

The unified software vb e-pass® enrollment suite integrates the whole enrollment infrastructure: it gathers the applicants’ biometric and biographical data captured at the enrollment stations, automatically assesses the quality of the captures in compliance with the international requirements, and consolidates all the data for further document personalization and life cycle management. This solution is built upon a Privacy-by-Design principle, meaning a responsible protection and cross-match of information and critical data through all stages that lead to document production.

The implementation of the laissez-passer comprises a secure and complete end-to-end process, made possible thanks to the technological expertise of the partners involved. This unique document will be endowed with the latest state-of-the-art electronic chip technology and personalization which will ensure a secure identification of EU representatives and reduce the risk of document falsification, thus making this project of international importance and a reference for organizations and global Government entities.