Biometric passports may be available in early 2007, meeting the international trend for enhanced passport security. The Security Bureau said this will tie in with the first tide of applications for renewal of 429,000 passports issued in 1997.

Following the technical specifications prescribed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, each biometric passport will be embedded with a contactless integrated circuit chip containing the facial image and personal information of the holder as it appears on the biodata page of the passport.

In line with the practice adopted in the US and the UK, there will be reserved capacity in the chip for the storage of fingerprint images to accommodate possible changes of international standards in future.

Stronger security

Explaining the need for issuing biometric passports, the bureau said following the September 11 terrorist attack, all contracting members agreed to step up the integrity and security control of passports and other travel documents.

Apart from counter-terrorism, many economies see biometric passports as an effective tool to counter forgeries and illegal migration and other transnational crimes facilitated by passport fraud.

Over three million Hong Kong SAR passports have been issued so far, and 133 countries and territories grant visa-free access or visa on arrival to holders.

The Government will arrange an early briefing for the Legislative Council Security Panel before consulting the Finance Committee on funding.