News | ID & Secure Document News

Francis Tuffy

9 June 2026

2 min read

Design and Innovation in ID Recognised at HSP Latin America 2026

The Regional Banknote and ID Document of the Year Awards form part of the industry’s High Security Printing (HSP) Latin America conference. This year’s event was held in Guatemala City, Guatemala, with the awards presented at a special ceremony during the conference dinner on 2 June.

Event Review

Francis Tuffy

9 June 2026

2 min read

Mexico Introduces Redesigned INE Voter ID Card

Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) has begun issuing a redesigned Credencial para Votar for applications processed from 1 June 2026 onward, introducing a revised card aimed at higher resistance to counterfeiting, alteration and duplication, while adding accessibility functions for users with visual impairments. The INE describes the update as a security and inclusion upgrade that also reinforces the credential’s role as a primary identity document.

ID Cards

Francis Tuffy

1 June 2026

2 min read

Dual Approach to South Africa’s New Driving Licence

South Africa’s transport authorities are re-tendering for a next-generation physical driving licence card, with the stated intention of migrating the credential to a polycarbonate (PC) substrate, at the same time as introducing a digital equivalent under the MyMzansi programme.

Driving Licences

Francis Tuffy

27 May 2026

4 min read

Running National ID as a Lifetime Service

The ID4Africa AGM 2026 (12-15 May) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, set out to move the conversation from deploying digital public infrastructure to the work of running national ID as a full-life system.

Event Review

Francis Tuffy

27 May 2026

4 min read

Editorial – AI Needs Regulation, Not Just Guardrails

Over the weekend of 18-19 April 2026, Beijing staged its second ‘Human and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon’. According to Reuters, more than 300 humanoid robots took part alongside, but segregated from, 12,000 humans.

Editorial

Francis Tuffy

27 May 2026

3 min read

UK Digital Update

His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) has formally started market engagement for a new passport manufacturing and personalisation contract.

Digital Identity

Francis Tuffy

27 May 2026

3 min read

Seaborough’s LUMICRYPT Engineers Unique Luminescent Fingerprints

Security printing has always borrowed optical phenomena from physics and chemistry, and few of these phenomena are as useful as luminescence.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

27 May 2026

2 min read

Nano-Engineered Optics for Passport and ID Card Protection

Counterfeiters are no longer limited to simple print and overlay methods to make counterfeit security features. High-resolution imaging, better foils, and wider access to precision tooling mean that many familiar ‘tilt effects’ can be imitated well enough to pass quick, first-line checks – especially on identity cards and passport datapages where the attack is aimed at the portrait and personal data.

Free Free

Francis Tuffy

27 May 2026

4 min read

Identity Management is the Key to Age Verification

For years, online ‘age gates’ have meant a checkbox, a self-declared birthdate, or a ‘by continuing you confirm you’re over 18’. That is all about to change. Across multiple countries, regulators are now treating age-restricted access as something that must be enforceable, as well as privacy-preserving.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

27 May 2026

3 min read

Back on the Acquisitions Trail

2024-2025 saw some major mergers and acquisitions activity within the ID and secure document industry, with IDEMIA Group negotiating with IN Groupe for the acquisition of IDEMIA Smart Identity (September 2024), TOPPAN Holdings (via TOPPAN Gravity) agreeing to acquire HID’s Citizen Identity Solutions division from Assa Abloy (October 2024), and Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) signing to acquire a 75% stake in Rubicon SEZC (Laxton group holding company) in June 2025.

Company

Francis Tuffy

21 May 2026

2 min read

Covestro and EMPTECH Announce Partnership

German polymer manufacturer, Covestro, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China’s EMPTECH to co-develop high-security identity document solutions. The partnership targets passports, national ID cards and driving licences. According to the companies, the purpose of the partnership is to improve the fit between substrate behaviour, security-feature integration and personalisation process control.

Company

Francis Tuffy

19 May 2026

2 min read

New Document Issue

On 15 April 2026, the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) introduced a new foreign nationals identity document (type W) for applicants awaiting a decision on a temporary or permanent asylum residence permit. The credential enables holders to prove identity, nationality and lawful stay in the Netherlands, while supporting rapid first-line checks in operational environments.

ID Cards Passports

Francis Tuffy

10 May 2026

2 min read

Australia Acts Against Identity Crimes

Australia is stepping up its response to identity crime through the Credential Protection Register (CPR), a national capability designed to stop stolen or compromised identity document details being misused in everyday verification checks.

Fraud Detection

Francis Tuffy

4 May 2026

2 min read

New Document Issue – Netherlands Foreign Nationals ID Document

On 15 April 2026, the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) introduced a new Foreign Nationals identity document (type W) for applicants awaiting a decision on a temporary or permanent asylum residence permit. The credential enables holders to prove identity, nationality and lawful stay in the Netherlands, while supporting rapid first-line checks in operational environments.

ID Cards

Francis Tuffy

27 April 2026

2 min read

epicenter.works Proposes Amendments to the EUDI Wallet

A new paper from digital rights group epicenter.works takes an engineering-centred look at the European Commission’s draft eIDAS implementing acts for the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet.

Studies, Reports

Francis Tuffy

27 April 2026

5 min read

News in Brief

Rwanda’s Information Society Authority (RISA) has launched a procurement for a ‘Single Digital ID Card Printing and Personalisation System and related consumables’ under the Rwanda Digital Acceleration Project.

News

Frank Schmalz

27 April 2026

4 min read

Digital Travel Credentials: The Passport of the Future?

Global travel is not just growing; it is outpacing the infrastructure designed to support it.

Technical Features

Francis Tuffy

27 April 2026

2 min read

Final Call for Papers

The technical committee for the Optical & Digital Document Security™ (ODDS) conference, taking place 25-27 January 2027, in Berlin, Germany, is issuing a final reminder for technical paper submissions. The deadline for submissions is Friday 1 May 2026, and the response so far has been strong with many high-quality abstracts already received.

Event Previews

Francis Tuffy

27 April 2026

2 min read

Nano-Engineered Optics for Passport and ID Card Protection

Counterfeiters are no longer limited to simple print and overlay methods to make counterfeit security features. High-resolution imaging, better foils, and wider access to precision tooling mean that many familiar ‘tilt effects’ can be imitated well enough to pass quick, first-line checks—especially on identity cards and passport datapages where the attack is aimed at the portrait and personal data.

ID Cards

Francis Tuffy

27 April 2026

3 min read

MicroCloud Hologram’s Quantum Identity Authentication

A Cayman Islands holding company has issued a statement saying it has developed two ‘practical’ quantum identity authentication schemes based on Grover’s quantum search algorithm. MicroCloud Hologram Inc (NASDAQ: HOLO) describes one scheme intended for environments with a trusted third party (TTP) and a second scheme designed to operate without a third party, for more decentralised applications.

Technology

Latest News

Design and Innovation in ID Recognised at HSP Latin America 2026

Mexico Introduces Redesigned INE Voter ID Card

Dual Approach to South Africa’s New Driving Licence

Running National ID as a Lifetime Service

Editorial – AI Needs Regulation, Not Just Guardrails

UK Digital Update

Seaborough’s LUMICRYPT Engineers Unique Luminescent Fingerprints

Nano-Engineered Optics for Passport and ID Card Protection

Identity Management is the Key to Age Verification

Back on the Acquisitions Trail

Covestro and EMPTECH Announce Partnership

New Document Issue

Australia Acts Against Identity Crimes

New Document Issue – Netherlands Foreign Nationals ID Document

epicenter.works Proposes Amendments to the EUDI Wallet

News in Brief

Digital Travel Credentials: The Passport of the Future?

Final Call for Papers

Nano-Engineered Optics for Passport and ID Card Protection

MicroCloud Hologram’s Quantum Identity Authentication

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