FIME has revealed the Russian Migration Service is now issuing biometric ePassports with fingerprint data included, which have been tested and certified by the global consulting and market integration testing services firm.

Appointed by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise, Scientific and Technical Centre, ‘STC Atlas’, FIME says it provided official testing and certification services throughout the development of the machine readable travel documents (MRTDs). The tests were carried out to validate compliance of the documents’ physical and functional characteristics, in line with standards and specifications defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

It adds: “The Russian Federation has been successfully providing ICAO compliant biometric passports for citizens travelling internationally since 2005. It is only now, however, during the current phase of the deployment, that biometric data will, for the first time, be actively stored on passports. It is intended that this mass deployment will reach a potential 142 million citizens in the future, including stateless people and refugees. With the implementation of biometric enabled ePassports, the state aims to reduce identity theft, increase border and national security and align with European travel document standards.

The physical and functional capabilities of the MRTDs were tested in FIME’s ISO accredited laboratory where a series of independent and approved tests were carried out. The physical flexibility and durability of the documents were verified across a range of climatic environments, while the electrical functionality of the MRTDs was tested to ensure protocol conformity with the relevant standards and specifications.

A technical specialist at STC Atlas, comments: “Compliance to industry standards has been a crucial part of the Russian biometric ePassport project, from initial product development through to integration. Working with FIME throughout this process has meant that we have been able to ensure that the documents achieve the required functional and security features and relevant industry regulations.”

Pascal Le Ray, CEO at FIME, comments: “The Russian state MRTD is a major strategic ePassport testing project, consolidating our role in the eID market. With a wealth of product testing expertise gained in the eID, telecom, ePayment and transport sectors, our technical know-how and market insight ensures that a customer’s solution is secure, interoperable and achieves the highest level of industry standardisation before it is launched to the market.”