DECISION 525
Minimum specific technical characteristics of Andean Passport nomenclature and security

          THE ANDEAN COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS,

HAVING SEEN: Articles 3 and 16 of the Cartagena Agreement; Decisions 458 and 504 of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers on Common Foreign Policy Guidelines and on the Creation of the Andean Passport; and General Secretariat Proposal 71/Rev. 1;

WHEREAS: The Member Countries have set themselves the target of forming the Andean Common Market by 2005 at the latest;

The sovereign decision of each of the Member Countries to create the Andean Passport, formalized through Decision 504 of the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers, is a significant step toward the building of a community of Andean citizens and the international identification of the Andean Community as a group of countries committed to a common integration project;

Decision 504 stipulates that the Andean Passport issued by each Member Country should be based on a standard model and contain minimum harmonized characteristics as to nomenclature and security elements, based on ICAO recommendations;

During the Eleventh Andean Presidential Council held in Cartagena in May 1999, the Presidents agreed to charge the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers with taking the necessary measures to ensure that the Andean Immigration Committee prepares a working agenda that gives special emphasis to the harmonizing, simplification and unification of immigration procedures; the approval of documents for identification and circulation among the Member Countries; and the establishment of mechanisms for the exchange of information and coordination among authorities, with a view toward facilitating the mobilization of people in the Andean subregion by the year 2005 at the latest, bearing in mind the individual situation that exists in each country;

At the Thirteenth Andean President Council, which took place in Carabobo in June 2001, the Heads of State of the Member Countries instructed the Andean Committee of Immigration Authorities (CAAM), with the support of the General Secretariat, to submit to the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers no later than December 2001 proposals on the harmonizing of immigration legislation for students, business people, investors, artists and sportsmen and women and on the uniform regime on the specific technical characteristics of the Andean Passport;

The Andean Committee of Immigration Authorities (CAAM), at its Sixth Regular Meeting, recommended that the General Secretariat should submit the draft Decision on the minimum specific technical characteristics of Andean Passport nomenclature and security to the Andean Council of Foreign Ministers;

BEARING IN MIND: The contents of Chapter 3 B of Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention regarding standards and recommended practices on Facilitation, and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Document 9303 on Machine Readable Travel Documents;

DECIDES:

Article 1.- The Andean Passport to be issued by each of the Member Countries shall conform to the standards recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for travel documents and shall contain at least the technical specifications regarding nomenclature and security set out in Annex 1 to this Decision.

Article 2.- The incorporation into the Andean Passport of additional nomenclature and security elements to those established by this Decision shall be subject to the sovereign authority of the Member Countries in accordance with their respective laws.

Article 3.- The Andean Passport should contain a machine-readable area, in accordance with ICAO recommendations.

Article 4.- Any additional security characteristics to those listed in Annex 1 to this Decision that the Member Countries may decide to incorporate into the Andean Passport to avoid its forgery, fraudulent imitation or use by imposters, should not interfere with its machine readability.

Article 5.- Member Countries shall issue the Andean Passport with an initial validity of at least five (5) years.

Article 6.- Member Countries shall issue an Andean Passport to each holder, avoiding issuing joint passports to couples or including children in their parents� passports.

Article 7.- This Decision shall enter into effect on the date of its publication in the Official Newspaper of the Cartagena Agreement.

First.- The Andean Committee of Immigration Authorities (CAAM) shall monitor the progress made by each Member Country in implementing this Decision on a biannual basis, until such time as the Andean Passport has been fully instituted.

Second.- All national passports issued before this Decision enters into effect shall remain fully valid until they expire.

Signed in the city of Lima , Peru , on the seventh of July of two thousand and two.

1. Physical characteristics of the Andean Passport:

1.1.- The physical nature of the Andean Passport will be such that any distortions resulting from normal use may be surmounted by the machine reading device without impairing the use of those passports or the operation of the machine reading device.

1.2.- With normal use, the Andean Passport will hold no toxic risk.

1.3.- The Andean Passport will be resistant to the chemical effects inherent to its normal handling and use, unless it has been given chemical-sensitive treatment for security reasons.

1.4.- The Andean Passport may be read mechanically at temperatures ranging from -10�C to +50�C. It should not become unreliable even if stored at temperatures of between -35�C and+80�C.

1.5.- The Andean Passport may be used in an environment with a relative humidity of from 5% to 95%, at a maximum moist bulb temperature of 25�C. Its reliability should not be impaired by storage in an environment with a relative humidity of from 0% to 100%.

1.6.- The Andean Passport shall be resistant to deterioration caused by exposure to light in the course of normal use.

1.7.- Whenever possible, the Andean Passport shall be made from controlled materials that cannot be acquired except for official use.

2. Andean Passport Data Page.

2.1.- The Andean Passport data page will measure 88mm x 125mm and will have a minimum thickness of 0.25mm and a maximum of 0.90mm.

2.2.- The data page will be either the first or the last page of the Andean Passport. The machine reading area of the Andean Passport will be located adjacent to its outer border parallel to the spine.

2.3.- The data page of the Andean Passport will contain at least the following information:

2.4.- Recommended model showing the location of the information on the Andean Passport data page:

This model is not shown to scale and is given merely for reference purposes. It contains the minimum data the Andean Passport must present. Member Countries may resize the data fields as they wish.

2.5.- The titles shown on the data page will be given in Spanish and English.

3. Andean Passport Machine reading area.

3.1.- The Andean Passport will contain a machine reading area that will be governed by the specifications contained in ICAO Document 9303, Part I.

3.2.- The pertinent data will be entered in the machine reading area using size 1 OCR-B-type capitals of the same width with a 2.54mm separation between characters.

3.3.- Only the following characters will be used in the Andean passport machine reading area:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

3.4.- The Andean Passport machine reading area will consist of two (2) lines of forty-five characters each.

3.5.- The first machine reading line of the Andean Passport will contain the following data, which will occupy the positions indicated below:

3.6.- The second machine reading line of the Andean Passport will contain the following data, which will occupy the positions indicated below: