Durasafe® Travel for Secure Data Pages

In last month’s issue of ID & Secure Document News™, we reported on Swiss high security paper manufacturer Landqart’s partnership with Tech5 to provide a combined solution for a certificate-based document that is durable, secure and biometrically-verifiable. Landqart brings to the partnership its Durafase® substrate, a polymer/paper composite that is used for banknotes and combines polymer durability with paper-based security.

This month we look at another derivation of the substrate, this time for the travel market in the form of Durasafe TRAVEL for passport data pages.

Unique for a paper-type data page, see- through windows can be integrated into the substrate while still being able to be printed like the rest of the book’s pages. The paper surface can be personalised with existing inkjet systems and sewn into the book without the need for a special hinge.

According to the company, Durasafe is physically stronger than traditional paper, is harder to counterfeit, yet retains paper’s printability, tactility, and the possibility to use trusted security features such as watermarks and security threads.

Durasafe TRAVEL is compatible with market-leading holographic laminates. Security foils can also be fully encapsulated by the polymer in the Durasafe structure, while remaining fully visible in reflection and transmission.

In use, the data page lies unobtrusively in the book, but according to Landqart, is five times more rigid than traditional paper and has ten times greater folding endurance, ensuring it will last longer while undergoing regular use at inspection points and the rigours of international travel.

Durasafe TRAVEL is chemically reactive to deter chemical attacks, while the presence of the polymer means that a physical attack from the rear of the page is made more complicated and will be immediately obvious. To increase the security of the passport supply chain, Durasafe TRAVEL carries a special taggant to assist with tracking the data page back to its manufacturing location in Switzerland. The same taggant can be used by border officials to verify the authenticity of the material.

In addition, Passport books that use Durasafe TRAVEL meet the standards set by ICAO for machine-readable travel documents (MRTDs) – ISO/IEC 18745-1.