Identity, Security, Payments, Biometrics, Smart Cards and Authentication News

EU court agrees that UK and Ireland cannot adopt certain Schengen measures relating to biometrics in passports

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

The EU’s highest court has ruled that the European Council was correct not to allow the UK and Ireland to adopt new Schengen agreement regulations establishing standards for security features and biometrics in passports. The Court of Justice said the UK and Ireland can only adopt new measures related to the agreement in areas where the two countries are already authorised to do so. The UK and Ireland are not bound by the Schengen agreement, by which member states agreed to gradually remove controls at their common borders and introduce freedom of movement.

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Vision-Box, a biometrics solutions provider, has come out with an automatic border control e-gate that supports multimodal biometric authentication.

This new e-gate is a thin system that contains vb i-match, a single sourced design that is modular and flexible and can be adapted to business requirements and infrastructure constraints that would otherwise disrupt passenger flow. It has the ability to cope with industry standards such as ICAO. The e-gate supports iris, fingerprint and facial biometrics.

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New passport-reading and biometrics technology installed at Dubai International Airport is catching increasing numbers of people who attempt to enter the country with fake identity documents, reports the Gulf News.

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In an effort to sell and/or license part of its patent portfolio, Massachusetts-based Aware Inc. has signed an agreement to sell some of its patents and patent applications to Intel Corporation for $75 million.

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Biometrics firms Morpho and AOptix have formed a partnership to deploy advanced biometric systems targeted to border management and aviation security industries.

Under the terms of the partnership, AOptix products will be integrated into Morpho’s border management product line. This includes InSight Duo, AOptix’s combined face capture and iris recognition system.

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Australia’s Attorney General and Ministry of Defense are exploring ways to grant reciprocation for fast-tracking each other’s citizens through customs checks in both countries, reports Australian Business Traveller.

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The Ministry of Public Security in China announced the country will start to issue a new type of passport bearing an electronic chip containing the holder’s personal information, according to the China Daily.

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