Reconnaissance, the organisers of High Security Printing EMEA, revealed the 2019 winners of the Regional ID Documents and Banknotes of the Year awards at a special ceremony during the conference in Malta on 26 March 2019.
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The ID document awards, of which there are three, recognise outstanding achievement and technical sophistication of a document and promote the best in system infrastructure and implementation of a government passport or national identity card scheme.
The banknote awards, meanwhile, recognise excellence in design, technical sophistication and security of a banknote or banknote series, and again there are three categories – Best New Series, Best New Banknote and Best New Commemorative Banknote.
Tanzania’s new ePassport, Estonia’s new national eID card and the new EU Visa project were the winners of the ID awards. Switzerland’s new banknote series, the new Bulgarian 100 lev and South Africa’s commemorative series celebrating the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s’ birth have all been recognised as best in their class in the banknote awards.
Best New ePassport
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The first award went to the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs of Tanzania for the new Tanzanian ePassport.
Tanzania has moved from an MRP booklet to a phased implementation of a complete eImmigration system in January 2018, with the first stage of the project, including the issuance of the first ePassports, being only four months from contract award to completion.
The new ePassport features a polycarbonate datapage incorporating laser engraving technology, an optically variable feature and positive and negative embossing incorporating an MLI lens. The datapage also carries an ICAO compliant secure RFID microcontroller chip and operating system with ICAO LDS 1.7 as well as BAC, EAC and the latest SAC/PACE security mechanisms, certified up to EAL6+.
The design of the booklet captures local themes and cultures across the visa pages, datapage and end papers, helping to engender a sense of national pride in the carrier.
Notable features include end papers with duplex security patterns and rainbow split duct printing, and two colour Intaglio printing incorporating a latent image and an optically variable print feature. Among the security features on the visa pages are rainbow split duct printing in both visible and invisible inks, Foredge registration feature and hidden page identifiers.
One of the benefits of the new ePassport solution is that the holder can have an emergency passport on their smartphone, if their passport is stolen or lost in another country. This passport, verifiable electronically by the embassy, allows the traveller to obtain the necessary document to return home or request a replacement passport without the need for further online checks, filling out forms or other time-consuming tasks. The mobile emergency passport has been developed using HID’s mobile goID solution. The new ePassport will, at the same time, make travel easier for the country’s citizens, through the use of automated border control stations.
The passport booklet is one component of an end to end system solution to support the enrolment, adjudication, personalisation, issuance and authentication of the ePassport, plus border control and eVisa systems.
The transformational project has been instigated by the Department of Immigration of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Tanzania and delivered by HID Global, their local partner Softnet with booklet manufacture by DLRS Security Concepts (now Smurfit Kappa Security Concepts) and design by Absolute Graphics.
The award was presented to Tanzania’s Commissioner of Immigration for Passports and Citizenship Gerald Kihinga and Henry Mkuzi of HID Global.
Best New National eID Card
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The second award went to the Police and Border Guard Board of Estonia, part of the Ministry of Interior for the new national eID card.
The new national eID cards with upgraded design and security features in December 2018. It took 18 months to prepare. Both internal and external experts were consulted when drawing up the new card’s design and choosing the security elements including the Estonian Forensic Science Institute and Enterprise Estonia.
The new cards utilise Estonia’s own font and elements of its brand, and feature a colour photo, a transparent window and an invisible secondary photograph that will only appear when viewed from an angle. One new detail is the inclusion of a QR code, which will make it easier to check the validity of the ID card.
The new eID card also integrates a new chip that allows contactless use in the future, once service providers start offering corresponding solutions – validating public transport trips for example. The new chip will retain the traditional interface and can still be used in ID card readers. The chip fits more information and is compatible with new applications, like electronic public transport tickets or other kinds of electronic certification. Giving and reading digital signatures will be possible using the traditional interface only.
Estonia is considered to have one of the most highly-developed national ID card system in the world. Much more than a legal photo ID, the mandatory national card also provides digital access to all of Estonia’s secure eServices. Nearly 5,000 separate eServices enable people to run their daily errands without having to get off their computers at home. They can enter into agreements, sign documents, submit various applications, use digital channels and means to communicate with various state authorities and service providers and so on.
The chip on the new card carries embedded files, and using 2048-bit public key encryption, it can be used as definitive proof of ID in an electronic environment. Thanks to the ID card, Estonia has one of the world’s most advanced digital signature systems. As of January this year, there are approximately 1.3 million ID cards being used in Estonia, which constitutes nearly 98% of the entire population of the country.
The award was presented to Eliisa Sau, Chief Expert of the Police and Border Guard Board of Estonia and Michal Grochowski, Area Sales Director at IDEMIA who supply the new document.
Best New ID Document
The final award went to Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt, the Federal Criminal Police Office and Bundesdruckerei, the country’s state printer and manufacturer of banknotes, passports and ID cards for the new EU Visa sticker project.
As part of the EU Commission Action Plan to strengthen the EU response to travel document fraud, all EU member states will be introducing the new EU Visa sticker in 2019. The project was a result of the collective work done at EU Article 6 Committee and associated subgroup with regard to the development of an improved uniform format visa.
Following a contest and the presentation from each member state and subsequent voting on points for seven different categories regarding the visa (Substrate, DOVID, Features, Personalisation etc), Germany was chosen as having the best concept and it had also won six of the seven categories outright.
It was decided by the member states not just to write the technical specification but also to improve the quality of the Visa Stickers and limit variation by running a Development Project to produce a Zero Series/Pilot Project – which would then be used as the baseline for the member states and the producers to adhere to. The project, funded by the EU, was awarded to and run by the Bundeskriminalamt and the Bundesdruckerei together.
The development project lasted about 11 months and was finished within time and on budget with a successful outcome and the issuance of a “Best Practice” Visa Kit and Technical Specification for 31 EU member and associate States. The Visa Kit and Technical Specification would then also be used as Best Practice for the basis of the subsequent eResidence Permit Card Project.
The Visa development project involved the integration of some additional ideas of the other member states as well, in order to create a project involving all concerned – which created team spirit. Suggestions came from a number of countries including Italy, Hungary and the UK. The approval at the production stage also involved an invitation for the subgroup to come to Berlin to sign off the progress.
This collaboration increased the level of the security features, the security concept specification, the design and quality of the document. The new sticker integrates improved chemical sensitisers, high level security background design, completely re-designed DOVID with improved features, improved intaglio inks and latent images, rip cuts and advanced UV elements. The sticker also has a “quiet zone” reserved for a 2D barcode in order to upgrade and secure the personalisation of the sticker, which is seen as a good next step to incorporate digital security into the security document world.
The project is a good example of the concept of Europe working together on an issue which concerns all Member States driving through the necessary factors for the good of all whilst taking into account the compromises needed and involved in successful partnerships.
The award was presented to Dr. Anna Wandschneider of Bundeskriminalamt, Duncan Faulkner of Bundesdruckerei and Francis Deschrijvere of the European Commission.
Best New Banknote Series
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The award for the Best New Series went to the Swiss National Bank for the ninth banknote series, entitled ‘The Many Facets of Switzerland’, which has broken new ground in terms of design and security.
Each note in the new series depicts a typically Swiss characteristic (creativity, scientific expertise, communication etc), which is illustrated via an action, a Swiss location and various graphic elements.
The respective themes are time for the CHF 10, light for the CHF 20, wind for the CHF 50, matter for the CHF 200 and, for newly-issued CHF 1,000, language. The CHF 100, which will be released this autumn to complete the series, will have water as its theme, reflecting Switzerland’s humanitarian tradition.
The banknotes have been designed and printed by Orell Füssli Security Printing on a three-layer banknote substrate – Durasafe® – provided by Landqart. The substrate consists of two outer layers of cotton paper and a polymer core for reinforcement that provides greater stability and durability than traditional banknote papers, as well as variety of transparent and semi=transparent windows.
One of the main security features is the innovative two-colour KINEGRAM® Volume stripe, combined with a partially metallised KINEGRAM provided by KURZ incorporating the denomination numbers in two colours (red and green)., a map of Switzerland, its language region and the names of all the Swiss cantons.
Another key feature is the SICPA’s SPARK® feature printed as a shimmering globe.
Other features include a window, two watermarks, a see-through feature, UV and IR features, microprint, intaglio, security thread, security fibres and Microperf®.
In addition, the new banknotes have been designed to assist the visually impaired to distinguish between the various denominations via a series of short, raised lines along the notes’ long edges.
The award was received by Peter Kuenzli of the SNB.
Best New Banknote – Bulgaria
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The award for the Best New Banknote was made to the Bulgarian National Bank for the new 100 lev, the first note in the country’s new series which was issued last December. While the design themes and colours of the existing series have been retained, the new series is being upgraded with a variety of innovate new features.
The Bulgarian National Bank has earned a reputation for innovation in banknotes, having been the first adopter of a number of new security features in the past. The 100 leva is no exception.
It features a dynamic RollingStar® LEAD stripe, synchronised to a dynamic ‘rectangular checkered field’ (like a moving chessboard) in a RollingStar® security thread (both technologies developed by Louisenthal) and to the SPARK® Live feature from SICPA.
Other security features of the paper note (which is post-print varnished for durability with Oberthur’s Fiduciare’s Securicoat Ultra™) include new tri-coloured paper embedded security fibres which can be seen in white, green, red under UV light, microprint, and a three-dimensional watermark portrait of Aleko Konstantinov (the Bulgarian writer and social activist) that is the combined with the highlight inscription ‘BNB’, visible on both sides in transmission view.
The note is intaglio printed and the use of the intaglio portrait of Aleko Konstantinov, together with the portrait in the watermark and LEAD stripe, is designed for ‘cross-referencing’, making it easy to check the authenticity of the notes.
In addition, the notes feature Simultouch ™, also from Oberthur Fiduciaire, namely intaglio-printed thick and thin lines along the short sides as an aid for the visually-impaired. And they include its interactive UV feature Avalon ™.
The whole project represents an example of impressive collaboration between the BNB, Oberthur Fiduciaire AD (the printworks in Sofia jointly owned by BNB and Oberthur Fiduciaire) and Papierfabrik Lousienthal.
The award was presented to Stefan Tzvetkov of the BNB.
Commenting on the award, Georgi Simeonov, Managing Director of Oberthur Fiduciaire AD, said: ‘OFAD sends its congratulations to the Bulgarian National Bank for this great award and is proud to have played its part in designing and producing the new 100 Lev which combines some of the most modern printed banknote security features as well as showcasing Bulgaria ‘s 21 century outlook and perspective.
Best New Commemorative Banknote
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The third award, for the Best New Commemorative Banknote, was made to the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) for the commemorative series commissioned to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela. This is the first time a complete series of commemorative notes have been issued.
The new notes (in denominations of R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200) were launched last July at a special ceremony at the historic Freedom Park in Pretoria, and were issued on 18 July (Mandela’s birthday).
The front of the commemorative notes is the same as the existing series, with Nelson Mandela’s portrait and watermark, colour shifting thread and a large denomination numeral in either OVI or SPARK depending on the denomination.
On the reverse, however, the images of the iconic Big 5 animals have been replaced with different scenes and accompanying themes on telling the story of Mandela’s life from young boy to president, marking key passages and historic milestones.
The R10, for example features the village where he was born (Birth), and the R20 the home in Soweto where he began both his career and his campaign against apartheid (Life). The background to the R50 is the place where he was taken prisoner (Capture), and the R100 Robben Island, where he was incarcerated for 18 of the 27 years he spent in captivity (Struggle). The highest denomination R200 depicts the Union Building where he was inaugurated as President in 1994 (Destiny).
The notes were designed by De La Rue and printed by the South African Banknote Company. Deon van Zyl of the latter collected the award on behalf of the SARB.
