S'pore to issue biometric passports

S'pore to issue biometric passports

SINGAPORE: Singapore will issue electronic passports with
biometric measures such as fingerprints late next year to meet
new U.S. border security rules, a government minister said on
Tuesday.

Home minister Wong Kan Seng said a "smart card" embedded in
passports could identify travelers through facial recognition,
fingerprints and iris-scanning, and said Singapore was seeking
proposals by private companies for the system.

"We hope by the end of next year, we will have something to
roll out," Wong announced.

Singapore and 26 other countries with visa-waiver agreements
with the United States have until Oct. 26, 2005, to start issuing
biometric passports under a U.S. law designed to tighten up
border security after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Wong said Singapore would also soon test a biometric project
at its main Changi Airport to allow frequent travelers to pass
through automated immigration kiosks.

Singapore began using biometrics on a trial basis in 1996 to
automate immigration clearance for travelers crossing into
neighboring Malaysia frequently by foot. This was expanded a year
later at all the island's checkpoints with Malaysia. --Reuters