Gemalto has announced a multi-year contract to supply biometric ePassports to the Republic of Moldova. Specifically, the company says it will supply the ePassports to the Center for State Information Resources in the Republic. This includes Gemalto’s Sealys eTravel embedded software and eCovers, as well as visual security features.

In addition to supply the materials, Gemalto says it will support integration services within the existing document issuance process. This is set to begin in 2014 and will enable visa-free travel for Moldovans throughout the EU.

Gemalto’s ePassports for Moldova store a digital portrait and two fingerprint scans in its contactless microprocessor. The security document will also be one of the first to implement Supplemental Access Control.

“This new contract further strengthens the company’s presence in Moldova,“ Tommi Nordberg, Senior Vice President of Government Programs at Gemalto said. ”An early mover in the process of visa liberalization, Moldova needs to handle growing citizen demand for the biometric passport and Gemalto is fully dedicated to supporting the country in meeting this challenge.”

Reported previously in BiometricUpdate.com, Gemalto announced that it had been awarded a similar contract for ePassports in Algeria.

“As a major benefit for our citizens, the new document will facilitate access to countries that have deployed ePassport verification infrastructures,” Serghei Railean, Director General of CSIR said. “We are looking forward to working with Gemalto to provide Moldovan citizens with the latest e-Identity documents for unprecedented levels of security and privacy.”

Source www.biometricupdate.com