Security Documents

Passport and ID card

Ongoing technical developments in the field of digital data processing have made it much easier for criminals to forge documents using colour and laser copiers. The only way to achieve long-term protection against forgery is to ensure that security printing houses maintain a permanent know-how lead and to constantly introduce new security features.

Bundesdruckerei GmbH has set itself the task of persistently enhancing existing security features and developing new ones. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and in co-operation with the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), we have developed the Identigram® security feature. In this way, we have helped improve the lasting security of German passports and ID cards.

Now that the personal data and photo of the passport holder are stored in an integrated electronic chip, the introduction of the electronic passport, in short ePassport, has opened up a whole new dimension in document security and identity protection.

Since autumn 2007, the German ePassport also features the data of two of the document holder's fingerprints stored in the ePassport chip. The possibility of directly comparing the live image with the ID data stored in the chip will open up a new dimension as regards the clear link between the document and the document holder and will further enhance the protection of a citizen's personal identity.

• Security features of the ID card
• Security features of the passport card
• Security features of the new provisional documents and children's passports
• Electronic passports from Bundesdruckerei certified by the German Federal Office for Information Security