Success in the Middle East: Bundesdruckerei to produce electronic passports for United Arab Emirates

Berlin / Abu Dhabi, 17 December 2009 - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) are placing their trust in the high security know-how of Bundesdruckerei GmbH. The Berlin-based company has now signed a contract to produce the electronic passports of the UAE for the next five years and to provide the accompanying hardware and software.

Bundesdruckerei is to support production of about one million electronic passports (ePassports) for the UAE. Bundesdruckerei's CEO Ulrich Hamann has a good explanation for his company's success: "The United Arab Emirates' decision to entrust Bundesdruckerei with production of its electronic passports and provision of the corresponding system components shows how much trust customers throughout the world place in our competency and technological potential". The passports are biometrical IDs complying with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and therefore meet the highest security demands. In practice, this means that the ePassports, comparable to their German counterparts, will have a chip in the cover on which a facial image and two fingerprints of the owner are stored, thus ensuring better protection of the owner's identity.

In this recent deal, Bundesdruckerei will be operating as sub-contactor to the local systems integrator "Emirates Computers" and will be responsible for several steps of the production process, ranging from data capture to issuing and verification of the documents. The paper passports - containing a data sheet coated with high-security holographic laminate - are produced in Berlin. Back home in the United Arab Emirates, Bundesdruckerei has been entrusted with equipping the Ministry of Interior with modern personalization technology for the documents and providing data capture and output systems to the competent authorities. Apart from a software package these systems will also include hardware components such as passport printers and reading devices.

In the call for tenders, Bundesdruckerei was able to assert itself against international competitors, with its extensive product portfolio and wide experience giving it the cutting edge. As general contractor to the German ePassport project, the company has already made an effective contribution to the introduction of a second generation of biometric IDs. Moreover, Bundesdruckerei has set up a full personalization system for the issuing of modern ePassports in Riga (Latvia) and is currently supplying Bosnia with new electronic passports.

For the Berlin-based high security company, this cooperation with the United Arab Emirates is a further step on the way to expanding its international business portfolio. But it is not the first time that the parties to this contract have worked together: around 700 Visotec® Expert 300 passport reading devices, produced in Berlin, are already in service along the borders of the UAE.  

Information about Bundesdruckerei
Bundesdruckerei GmbH Berlin is one of the world's leading companies engaged in developing and supplying systems solutions for secure identification. In addition to full-scale passport and ID-card systems, the company provides national and international customers with ID documents, high-security cards, document verification devices, security software along with trust center services. Bundesdruckerei GmbH also produces banknotes, postage and revenue stamps as well as electronic publications. With its subsidiaries BIS Bundesdruckerei International Services GmbH, D-TRUST GmbH, Maurer Electronics GmbH and iNCO Sp. z o.o., Bundesdruckerei employs a staff of around 1,700 worldwide. The company generated revenue of EUR 314 million in the 2008 financial year. Bundesdruckerei is one of the founding members of the "Secure Identity Berlin-Brandenburg" innovation cluster and also endows the "Secure Identity" chair at Freie Universität Berlin. Further information is available at www.bundesdruckerei.de.

Contact:
Jessica Behrens
Corporate Communications
Bundesdruckerei GmbH
Oranienstraße 91
D-10969 Berlin
Tel: + 49 (0) 30-25 98-28 10
Fax: + 49 (0) 30-25 98-28 08
Email: jessica.behrens@bdr.de