All passports in electronic format by next year – Foreign Affairs Ministry

“Electronic passports (e-passports) are not in written form and instead the holder’s information is recorded in a small IC (or “chip”) embedded in the back cover of the passport,” he said.
“Changing ordinary passports to electronic passports is carried out by Foreign Affairs and Interior ministries and its technical stages are currently being implemented,” Seyed Agha Bani Hashemi told Mobna news agency.
“From October 2010, no written passport will be accepted and all countries are required to change their passports to the new format and refuse old passports,” he added.
“Electronic passport is quite foolproof and cannot be copied,” he said.
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