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Philips, Infineon win German passport chip deal AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Philips Electronics and Infineon said on Thursday they will supply the German passport printing authority with wireless chips for new smart passports for the country's 80 million citizens. "Based on sophisticated encryption technology, the highly secure chip will be used to hold personal information on the passport holder, reducing fraud and forgery of travel documents and increasing security for travelers," Netherlands-based Philips said in a statement. Germany is one of the first European Union states to introduce the new passports. "There are currently around 24 million German passports in circulation, which are usually valid for 10 years, with an annual replacement and renewal rate of about 10 percent," Germany-based Infineon said in a separate statement. Driven by the United States' visa waiver program, which requires visitors to the country to present a machine-readable passport when visiting the country for less than 90 days, governments around the world are introducing smart passports. Initially, the chips will store the printed information and the photo. By early 2007, fingerprints of each of the bearer's index fingers will also be stored in encrypted form. Infineon is Europe's top chip maker and Philips is the world's biggest lighting maker, a top three hospital equipment maker, Europe's biggest consumer electronics producer and the region's number three in semiconductors. The companies are global top producers of smartcard chips used in electronic identity cards and public transport passes. The German passport printing authority, the Bundesdruckerei GmbH, was not immediately available to comment. Philips said it was working with a variety of partners to implement the scheme, including Sokymat GmbH and T-Systems, which is responsible for the operating system. On Wednesday, Germany said it would narrowly miss a U.S. deadline to start issuing new electronic passports but expressed optimism that Washington would be flexible toward it and its EU partners. The United States has set an Oct. 26 deadline by which Japan, Australia and 25 mainly European countries must start rolling out the passports in order for their citizens to continue to enjoy visa-free U.S. visits of up to 90 days.
http://www.microsite.reuters.com
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