On 29 and 30 September 2005, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) will hold a global symposium on Machine Readable Travel Documents (MRTDs) and biometric-enhanced e-passports, at its Headquarters in Montreal.

All of ICAO`s 188 Contracting States must begin issuing only ICAO-standard Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) no later than 1 April 2010. Some 110 States currently do so and about 40 of them plan to upgrade to e-passports with biometrics by the end of 2006 to meet the United States Visa Waiver Programme requirements.

Biometrics is a means of identifying a person by biological features unique to an individual, using advanced computerized recognition techniques. This makes possible rapid comparison, either oneto-one with the person and document, or one-to-many using a database to positively identify an individual.

World experts involved in ICAO`s MRTD standard development programme will discuss MRTDs as a means of processing airline passengers with increasing speed, efficiency and security, as well as the operation of document and biometric reading systems at border control points. An exhibition will highlight key MRTD-related products and services.

The current ICAO-standard technical specifications for e-passports can be downloaded from here