Poland orders contactless inlays for passports from ASEC
14 August, 2006
category: Contactless, Government
The Polish Public Printing Works placed an order for contactless inlays with ASEC, OTI’s subsidiary in the country. The ISO 14443 inlays will be used for new ICAO-compliant electronic passports. Poland plans to begin issuing the new documents at the end of this month.
ASEC OTI’s Subsidiary Selected for Electronic Passports Roll Out in Poland
FORT LEE, N.J. and WARSAW, Poland, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ – On Track Innovations Ltd, (OTI) (NASDAQ:OTIV) , a global leader in contactless microprocessor-based smart card solutions, for homeland security, payments, petroleum payments and other applications, today announced that PWPW S.A. (Polish Public Printing Works) of Poland placed its first order with ASEC S.A., OTI’s wholly-owned subsidiary for electronic passports inlays for Polish citizens. Under the contract, ASEC S.A. will supply contactless inlays that will be adhered to the passport cover. Currently there are about 1.5 million passports issued in Poland annually and the government intends to roll out the first electronic passports starting this quarter. The first commercial order will be supplied this year.
OTI’s electronic passport product successfully passed tests by certified laboratories based on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and ISO 14443 testing procedures, for product performance including security, durability, communications, personalization and more.
Poland, with a population of more than 38 million, is one of the new members of the European Union. The new electronic passport is complying with the EU’s mandate that its members adopt the technology by August of this year. According to a law passed by the Polish parliament, the new electronic passports will be issued starting August 28 of this year.
OTI offers complete electronic passport inlay and production line solutions. Electronic passport inlay supports stable, reliable and fast transaction with basic access control (BAC) and active authentication security and include inlays, inlays-to-cover, personalization systems and contactless readers. OTI production line solutions include patented machinery for inlay production for complete electronic passport production solution.
Anat Arazi, President of ASEC S.A. said, “As a Polish company we are extremely proud to be able to supply electronic passports for the local market. We believe in our product superiority and looking forward to many years of cooperation with PWPW.”
“OTI is proud to supply electronic passports for the Polish government,” said Oded Bashan, President & CEO, OTI. “This new contract reinforces OTI’s position as a major player in the field of electronic passport programs and further strengthens OTI’s presence in the emerging European countries.”
About OTI
Established in 1990, OTI (NASDAQ:OTIV) designs, develops and markets secure contactless microprocessor-based smart card technology to address the needs of a wide variety of markets. Applications developed by OTI include product solutions for petroleum payment systems, homeland security solutions, electronic passports and IDs, payments, mass transit ticketing, parking, loyalty programs and secure campuses. OTI has a global network of regional offices to market and support its products. The company was awarded the Frost & Sullivan 2005 and 2006 Company of the Year Award in the field of smart cards. For more information on OTI, visit http://www.otiglobal.com/ .