Wednesday, October 18, 2006

WASHINGTON, USA (AFP): A card-format passport for American citizens has been proposed for travel through land and sea ports of entry between the United States and Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda, the US State Department said Tuesday.

It is part of the so-called Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative to strengthen border security under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act signed into law in 2004, the department said in a statement.

It added that the State Department, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, "today announced and submitted for public comment a federal rule proposing the development of a card-format passport."

The limited-use passport card will be adjudicated to the same standards as a traditional passport book, the State Department said.

"To facilitate the frequent travel of those living in US border communities and those traveling on commercial maritime vessels, the Department of State has committed to producing a passport card that incorporates cutting-edge technology," it said.

The technology used in the proposed wallet-size card was designed specifically to address the operational needs of land border crossings, it said.

The card would "use long-range, or vicinity, radio frequency identification technology to link the card to a secure US government database containing biographical data and a photograph."

The card itself will not contain any personal information, and protection measures would be taken to keep the database secure, the statement said.

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