Until the advent of electronic passports,
there has never been an application in the history
of the contactless smartcard industry which has required
global interoperability. This application is also
unique in that it requires the existence of robust
standards defining and specifying a broad range of
individual elements, including; air interface protocol,
command and data structure, data encryption and security
as well as aspects of the physical form of the electronic
travel document. Most states in the world have delegated
the responsibility for creating and documenting these
specifications to the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO). In turn, ICAO has relied upon
experts in ISO/IEC technical working groups to address
each of the specific areas of interest. Over the last
year, a number of international interoperability test
sessions have been sponsored by several states with
the goals of assessing the ability of the ICAO specifications
to guarantee interoperability and the progress of
suppliers in implementing interoperable solutions.
The status of both specification and test efforts
will be reviewed at the Electronic Passport Forum.
