Electronics Production |
Setec to supply biometric passports
The Norwegian National Police Directorate has chosen the Finnish smart card company Setec to be the manufacturer of its new biometric passports that will be introduced in Norway in October 2005.
The agreement is for three years including an option for two extra years. The value of the agreement is over € 30 million. The deliveries will start at the beginning of October, and the estimated volume is approximately 600,000 passports per year. As a result of this agreement Setec will establish a new subsidiary in Norway.
The Norwegian passport booklets are to be manufactured in Setec’s production in Finland where the visa pages and polycarbonate-based data page are printed. Setec will also incorporate the microchip with biometric identifiers and an antenna into the data page developed and manufactured by Setec. Altogether Setec manufactures six different passport types for Norway.
To be able to offer a full value chain of passport manufacturing Setec will establish a new subsidiary in Oslo, Norway. The company will personalize the passports by laser-engraving the passport holder’s personal data on the data page and by saving his/her biometric identifiers into a microchip inside the data page. Setec Group’s Finnish parent company, Setec Oy, will own 100% of the new subsidiary.
