Tr"ub and Brand New Technology have won a government tender to print passports according to new international criteria.
The Swiss company specialises in producing and personalising national documents such as identity documents, driving licences and passports.
The passports, made of a polycarbonate data-page, will be made available in spring next year.
After the World Trade Centre bombings on 11 September 2001, the International Civil Aviation Organisation decided to reinforce the security and integrity of passports, according to Tr"ub. Member states decided that issuance of machine-readable passports must become mandatory by 2010.
The SA Government Printing Works issued a tender for new passports, which are machine-readable and unable to be copied and counterfeited. Tr"ub says in the statement that it won the tender because the data-pages it produces are 100% polycarbonate and can be personalised using laser engraving.
South Africans will be receiving a solution guaranteed for the life cycle of the passport, the company says.
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