Presentation of new Belgian passport by Minister De Gucht

The new generation of passport represents a technological and graphical step forward compared with the version introduced in 2001, which established a strong reputation for Belgium. The change will not impact on the time taken to issue passports, the prices charged for them or the duration of the passport’s validity. Old passports will remain valid until the date cited in them.

The new passport is also in line with the European and international standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The design of the new Belgian passport was motivated by the desire to meet three objectives: to facilitate checks at the first level (i.e. requiring no instruments), to enhance data protection and to come up with a new design.

1) A ‘self-checking’ passport

The passport introduced in 2001 had a page of pictograms indicating how the passport should be checked. The new passport goes further, being ‘self-checking’. In addition to the page of pictograms it also has an external polycarbonate sheet, which when placed over the photograph of the passport holder like a decoder shows up the holder’s initials. This technology also enables anyone in possession of a passport to verify its authenticity in a few seconds. This will facilitate and thus speed up first-level checking.

2) Enhanced data protection

Substituting photographs is the most widespread method used to falsify official documents. The new passport uses several personalisation technologies that make it impossible to substitute photos, because the holder’s likeness is reproduced in five separate places using five different technologies:
- Colour personalisation on the data page
- Black-and-white personalisation on the polycarbonate sheet
- Micro-perforation of the photo on the polycarbonate sheet
- Invisible personalisation on the pictogram page
- Electronic personalisation on the microchip.

The use of such multiple procedures provides better protection of the data and lowers the risks of falsification.

3) A more pleasing appearance

The passport’s design has also changed, with room made for buildings of symbolic value to the country’s Regions and provinces, including the buildings housing the staff of its respective minister-presidents, followed by the town halls of the capitals of Belgium’s 10 provinces (i.e. in alphabetical order the Brussels-Capital Region, the Flemish Region and Wallonia, and, for the provinces, Antwerp, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant, Hainaut, Liège, Limburg, Luxembourg, Namur, Walloon Brabant, and West Flanders).

The minister stressed that the adoption of this new passport reflected Belgium’s desire to remain at the forefront of technology regarding the security of ID and travel documents.