Australia’s R-Series Passport Moves into New Security and Design Paradigm

Since winning the contract to manufacture the entire Australian passport in 2002, the R-Series is now the fifth series that Note Printing Australia (NPA) has developed for the Australian Passports Office, and by some margin the most ambitious book NPA has ever manufactured.

Thanks to the addition of a new set of technologies built from the ground up, the R-Series will take its place in Australia’s passport history as taking the national security document into a new security and design paradigm. The major security driver of this shift is the addition of a polycarbonate data page, supplemented with enhanced design based on a new printing capability to create vivid, bold imagery across double pages.

Australia’s polycarbonate data page, manufactured by De La Rue, involved a complete rethink of the technology to eliminate potential vulnerabilities and take full advantage of the 3D space that a polycarbonate page provides. This includes the use of clear windows and integrated security features that not only make the data page more secure but continues the legacy of Australian security documents that use clear windows as a security feature – the polymer banknote being another highly successful anti-counterfeit example.