Imprimerie Nationale Selects Gemalto’s Personalization Solution for France’s New Biometric Passports

Imprimerie Nationale Selects Gemalto’s Personalization Solution for France’s New Biometric Passports

With 25 systems deployed in the public sector worldwide, Gemalto confirms its leading position in the personalization of secure healthcare and identity documents

Amsterdam/Paris, October 23, 2008–Gemalto (Euronext NL0000400653 GTO), the world leader in digital security, today announces it has been selected by Imprimerie Nationale (the French public printing office) to provide its Coesys Issuance solution intended to personalize the second-generation biometric passports to be issued in France. These new passports contain digital biometric information, notably the holder’s fingerprints. This success strengthens Gemalto’s position as a leading player in the field of secure healthcare and identity documents personalization, where the company has already deployed 25 systems worldwide.

By adopting second-generation travel documents, France is complying with the European Commission directive that requires all Member States to include digital biometric information into passports issued from June 2009 onwards. With a personalization system available as of now, France is in a position to meet this deadline. Protection of the rights to read this data is enhanced by an EAC¹ mechanism specially designed to ensure confidentiality of biometric information. Five pilot regions (Nord, Oise, Aube, Gironde and Loire-Atlantique) will start issuing the new biometric passports this fall. Imprimerie Nationale, which currently issues around 3 million passports per year, will gradually replace existing documents.

The Coesys Issuance personalization solution is at the heart of France’s second-generation passport project. It prepares the data that will be incorporated into the biometric passport and generates the security keys directly at Imprimerie Nationale’s premises. The Gemalto solution also handles the secure loading of all individual data into each passport and performs complete management of this data. It carries out personalization of an EAC microprocessor with unprecedented speed. Lastly, Coesys Issuance ensures a level of quality control equivalent to that of the new authentication system that will be implemented at border controls.

Loïc Lenoir de la Cochetière, Chairman and CEO of Imprimerie Nationale S.A., stated: “Gemalto was able to offer a turnkey personalization solution that is standardized, modular, flexible and evolutive. Eventually, we will be able to use this system to personalize other types of secure identity documents produced at Imprimerie Nationale.”

“We are proud to continue our cooperation with Imprimerie Nationale for this new phase of France’s electronic passport program,” added Jacques Seneca, executive vice-president of Gemalto’s Security business unit. “Gemalto has already been a key partner of Imprimerie Nationale right from the start, by supplying the contactless microprocessors with their secure operating system and antenna, that enabled France to meet deadlines applicable to first-generation electronic travel documents. This new success confirms Gemalto’s expertise in implementing the latest standards for the future passports.”

Gemalto’s references in the personalization of secure healthcare and identity documents include notably the following countries: Algeria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.

¹ EAC: Extended Access Control

About Gemalto

Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO) is the leader in digital security with pro forma 2007 annual revenues of over €1.6 billion, more than 85 offices in 40 countries and about 10,000 employees including 1,300 R&D engineers. In a world where the digital revolution is increasingly transforming our lives, Gemalto’s solutions are designed to make personal digital interactions more convenient, secure and enjoyable. Gemalto provides end-to-end digital security solutions, from the development of software applications through design and production of secure personal devices such as smart cards, SIMs, e-passports, and tokens to the deployment of managed services for its customers. More than a billion people worldwide use the company’s products and services for telecommunications, financial services, e-government, identity management, multimedia content, digital rights management, IT security, mass transit and many other applications.

As the use of Gemalto’s software and secure devices increases with the number of people interacting in the digital and wireless world, the company is poised to thrive over the coming years.
For more information please visit http://www.gemalto.com.

Contacts:

Gemalto
Rémi Calvet
Tel: +33 (0) 1 55 01 64 10
Mob: +33 (0) 6 22 72 81 58
E-mail: remi.calvet@gemalto.com

TBWACorporate
Sophie Mazoyer
Tel: +33 (0) 1 49 09 26 87
Mob: +33 (0) 6 07 21 08 77
E-mail: sophie.mazoyer@tbwa-corporate.com

Aline Borne
T.: +33 (0) 1 55 01 51 05
M.: +33 (0) 6 16 29 87 04
E-mail: aline.borne@gemalto.com