Ukraina Printing House plans to launch the printing of biometric passports by the Ukraine-EU summit, which will be held in Vilnius in November 2013, company director Maksym Stepanov has said in an interview with ZN.UA
However, Stepanov found it difficult to say what the cost of biometric passports will be, but he expressed confidence that the price would be lower than Hr 350 announced by the EDAPS Consortium.
“I think [they will be cheaper]. But I am really not ready to say how much. It is necessary to carry out certain activities. Much depends on what information will be recorded on biometric passport chips. This will determine the price,” he said.
According to him, minimum data are to be recorded on the chip: photo, signature, and additionally fingerprints, retina, and others.
“This requires appropriate equipment, which should be installed at all enterprises, registration offices in the regions. Appropriate protective mechanisms, software will be also needed. Currently there is no system for protecting such passports. And it, by the way, is worth money. Today we have draft designs of passports. We need other passport paper, other protective elements printed on passports. All this ultimately influences the price,” said the director.
