OSCE enhances Ukrainian border guards’ expertise in passport security paper

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department conducted an online training course from 10 to 11 June, where document experts from Greece and the United Kingdom helped Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service learn more about the security elements of passport paper and its production. The training was specifically tailored for first-line document inspectors, forensic experts, and instructors from key institutions, including the Main Forensic Center and the Academy of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

While electronic passport components such as biometric chips, automated border control e-gates, and digital travel credentials continue to advance, the bulk of a passport is still paper, including the visa pages, cover, and end pages. Some countries have also not yet adopted polycarbonate in their passports and instead continue to print the passport data page on paper. This means border police need to ensure they understand the latest features of passport paper components to safeguard personal data and prevent document forgery.

This course looked at those features in depth and covered a wide range of topics such as the historical development of passports and international standards in issuing travel documents. A session also focused on certified security printers, including a presentation by Portals Paper Ltd, to lay out the commercial production process of passport security paper since some countries still rely on outsourcing their passport printing to such printers.

Stephen Chapman, who formerly worked in the UK's His Majesty's Passport Office, said during the training that "as a long standing member of the ICAO Implementation and Capacity Building Working Group, it was my honour as a recently retired UK government official to be able to pass on some of the advanced knowledge and awareness of unusual pitfalls encountered, when issuing travel documents. This knowledge will hopefully enable Ukraine to improve their processes and so promote greater confidence among other states of the security and integrity of their travel documents.”

Participants also had a chance to work through a case study presented by Greek forensic document experts about the dismantling of a forgery lab in Athens. They detailed the seizure of altered or falsified passports, ID cards, and driving licenses, along with the equipment used to produce these forgeries such as printers, paper lamination machines, cutting devices and ink.

The training course was part of an ongoing project supporting the OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation in reducing illegal border crossings by using a fake or stolen identity. This project is funded by the United States.