Biometric experts recently gathered at the first meeting of the Interpol Facial Expert Working Group to begin development on international facial recognition standards, according to a report by Eurasia Review.

Held October 14-15, the meeting saw the participation of 24 technical and biometrics experts along with examiners from 16 nations, including identity and biometrics pioneer Dr Joseph Atick.

Over the course of the two days, these experts successfully created a ?best practice guide? for the quality, format, and distribution of images to be used in facial recognition.

The guideline will be distributed to all 190 Interpol member countries to ultimately improve the quality of images required to achieve accurate and effective facial recognition.

Interpol is currently working with biometrics firm Safran Morpho to develop a facial image database, which is designed to improve Interpol?s forensic capabilities. The project is expected to become operational in early 2015.

Serving as Interpol?s advisory group in the field of biometrics, the working group will meet twice a year as part of the facial recognition initiative.

In 2015, Interpol will host its first facial recognition conference to promote facial recognition activities among member countries, as well as the sharing of facial images using the new database.