General information on the Hungarian e-passport
Under the EU Council Regulation of 13 December 2004 on standards for security features and biometrics in passports and travel documents issued by Member States, as from 29 August, 2006 Member States are required to issue passports which contains the biometric identifiers of the holder.
According to the above Regulation, as of 29 th August, 2006 Hungary has been issuing new kind of passports complying with all the requirements concerning the format and the security features of travel documents specified by the pertaining EU regulations. The new passports (further referred as: e-passports) are supplied with a chip containing the biometric information of the holder, namely the facial image. The differences between the e-passports and the ones issued prior to the above date and currently in circulation are detailed below.
The back cover of the e-passport contains a chip capable of storing biometric features of the holder of the document. The chip stores the determined data from data page of the e-passport, including the facial image of the holder. According to the above Regulation, within 36 months after 30 of June 2006 the chip shall additionally contain the digital fingerprints of the holder.
The colour of the cover of the e-passport has changed from blue to bordeaux violet. Furthermore, the words „Európai Unió” and the international sign of the chip can be seen on the front cover of the e-passport. Additionally, the most important terms used in the e-passport are shown in every official language of the EU.
The above changes concern only the e-passport, which were applied for after 29 August, 2006. Passports issued before the above date remain valid within their validity period.
The application procedure did not change. E-passport can be applied for personally in the Document offices and in Hungarian foreign representations.
 |
 |
|