US embassy cable - 05MADRID652

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000652 
 
SIPDIS 
 
For CA/VO/F/P 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: CVIS, CMGT, PREL, SP, Other 
SUBJECT: VWP - UPDATE ON 10/26/05 DEADLINE - SPAIN 
 
REF: A) STATE 023029; B) STATE 9752 
 
1. Consul General contacted Director General for 
Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
the Commissario for Documentary Services to transmit 
information in Ref A and to request an update on the 
information requested: 
 
2.    Name of the Project Manager for Spain 
 
Jos Santiago Snchez Aparicio, 
Chief of Spanish Document Unit of the Spanish National 
Police SNP (Comisario Jefe de la Unidad de 
Documentacin de Espaoles) 
 
His two principal team members are: 
Jose Luis Diaz Aguado, who handles the technical 
security parameters. 
Javier Marquina, who is an engineer at the National 
Mint. 
 
3.    Timeline for Pilot Testing 
 
There is no specific timeline at this time. The EU has 
has 
just established the common parameters and provided 
each EU country with sixteen months to implement the EU 
biometric parameters.  The SNP expect to have a pilot 
project running the first quarter of 2006, but they 
cannot be more specific at this time.  They have linked 
the biometric passport with an updated National 
Identity Card (E-DNI), which will include a chip with 
biometric data.  CG has seen a prototype "smart card" E- 
DNI that will be the size of a credit card with a chip 
holding biometric data.  The E-DNI is expected to go 
into production about the same time and will be used as 
the basis for the printing and production of the 
biometric passport. 
 
4.    Anticipated Date for Full Production 
Assuming the pilot testing goes forward successfully, 
they anticipate going into full production of biometric 
passports in the second quarter of 2006. 
 
5.    Status of Procurement Efforts and/or Legislative 
Changes 
 
SNP has been investigating the sources for equipment, 
but they do not have any procurement orders yet.  The 
National Mint currently prints the passport books, DNI 
and other security documents and materials (credit 
cards, lottery tickets, currency, etc).  SNP has 
requested a prototype passport book from the German 
Company that provides the Spanish Passport Printers. 
They anticipate receiving the prototype from this 
company by March of this year.  They are already aware 
of the need to make certain modifications, but clearly 
some of these details will need to be worked out during 
testing. 
 
They do not need any legislative action.  One year ago, 
a law was passed to cover the MRP and that legislation 
included provisions for the biometric passport.   Funds 
were allocated for the project at that time as part of 
the legislative and budgetary process. 
 
6.    Any Particular Problems that might be anticipated 
in Rolling out the Program 
 
They primarily see technical problems.  For example, EU 
specifications are more stringent that the ICAO 
specifications, and the Spanish are moving to meet the 
more stringent EU criteria.  They intend to include 
fingerprint biometrics in the Spanish documents, so 
their research and development efforts are including 
not only facial recognition, but also fingerprint 
biometric identifiers.   Since the EU has only recently 
determined the EU standards, the Spanish are still in 
the process of evaluating and adapting these common EU 
standards and goals. 
 
Spanish passport production is handled through 
decentralized production facilities.  Passports are 
personalized in over 100 Police Stations (SNP) in every 
province in the country and at several airports. 
Domestic production is estimated at approximately 1 
million passports annually.  The Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs is responsible for preparing approximately 
200,000 passports annually for expatriate Spanish 
citizens.  MFA is initiating a new procedure for 
centralizing the production of overseas passports at a 
facility in Madrid under MFA, following the US model of 
electronic transfer of data and courier return of 
passports.  They anticipate beginning the pilot on 
March 1, 2005 with data transfer from three European 
embassies.   This decentralized system will require 
that the production and procurement be affordable and 
suitable for this type of production model.  They are 
examining the security issues and the costs involved in 
the decentralized production and factoring those issues 
into their planning and development. 
 
Manzanares