The Imprimerie Nationale, the official supplier and printer to the French government, has chosen Datacard Group to provide systems for France’s e-passport program.

Datacard will install Datacard PB6500 passport issuance systems. These automated, inline high-volume passport production systems will be able to issue up to 25,000 passports a day.

The system’s configuration includes automated leafing, inline inkjet printing, smart card encoding, laser perforation and enhanced lamination of secure thin-film overlays. The system’s universal interface comes through Datacard’s Syntera customization suite software to act as a bridge to link the PB6500 passport systems.

With the system Imprimerie Nationale has been able to cut passport delivery time from six days to two.