Since 2008, the new Portuguese biometric Citizen Card is available in the country’s all regions. The interest from the public is immense and AMA – the responsible agency - has had to establish new issuance sites in big cities.

Security advantage
”We saw a need for a high security ID document for our government services and this new card enables electronical signatures and e-Government services for our citizens. And the biometrics is another step towards secure transactions.”, says André Vasconcelos.

He works for the Portuguese government agency AMA, the agency in charge of specifying and rolling out the new Portuguese ID card – the Citizen Card.

New usage areas
Today the citizens use their fingerprints when collecting their new cards and in situations where they need to verify that they are the true owner of the card, but we will probably see new usage areas for the card.

”We are planning to expand the application areas in the future and are also currently pushing for extended use of the card.”

Proven technology
Precise Biometrics was chosen as a supplier for the Match-on-Card technology due to the company’s reliable technology.

”In a large implementation such as a national ID card, it is important that the Match-on-Card technology is proven in real life. Precise Biometrics was a supplier that offered such a trusted and well-proven Match-on-Card technology.”

Immense interest
AMA is planning on issuing the new card to all of the country’s 10 million citizens within 4-5 years. Since August 2008, the new card is available all over the country and André Vasconcelos is pleased with the roll-out so far.

”It has worked well, and fast. The support from Precise Biometrics has been valuable. The interest from the public is immense and we have currently had to establish additional issuance sites, especially in the big cities.”

» Case study (PDF)