It has the feel of a shotgun wedding, with the U.S. government forcing the issue, but the marriage of smart card technology and passports is at hand. Facing a U.S.-imposed October 2005 deadline to begin issuing electronic passports carrying biometric data, many countries are making plans to order passports containing contactless smart card chips and antennas. , Contactless chips were chosen last year by the International Civil Aviation Organization, which sets travel documents standards for 188 member nations, as the best way to store biometric data for verifying the identity of travelers. Since then, passport agency officials have been criss-crossing the globe attend- ing standard-setting meetings and vendor interoperability tests, all aimed at creating a system that would allow, for instance, a chip-based passport issued by Pakistan to be read by border guards in Brazil.
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