28 Belgian Passport
Belgian Passport | PMI's 2022 Most Influential Projects | #MIP2022
The more designs in a passport, the more difficult it is for forgers to reproduce one. So Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs spearheaded a new Belgian Passport featuring comic strip designs. Each page incorporates two different designs—one visible by the eye and another revealed by UV light.
For upping the security—and the fun factor—of travel documents
Most passports look pretty much the same: serious, utilitarian documents befitting their purpose. Forget that. The Belgian government is rewarding its country’s COVID-19-weary globetrotters with a new version that marries trusted technology with whimsical nods to Belgian pop culture.
“It was time for a new design, and we wanted something engaging and modern, with a Belgian touch,” says Dominique Bulcke, Belgium’s director of travel & identity documents, Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs. “I’m a comic strip fan, and I had the idea to include comic strip characters, which are youthful and instantly recognizable.” The idea was swiftly accepted (perhaps because others on the project team were also vocal comic fans).
To turn the idea into reality, the project brought together more than 20 people across several organizations, including anti-fraud experts from the Belgium Federal Police, as well as specialists from French design firm Thales Group and Belgian tech company Zetes.
The result? Travel documents that are way more secure—and way more fun, with beloved Belgian comic book characters, among the country’s best-known cultural exports, peppered throughout the 34-page travel document. A festive drawing of the iconic rocket ship from The Adventures of Tintin adorns the inside cover, for instance.
“The authors and copyright holders were all very enthusiastic about the project—some even made new drawings for the passport,” Bulcke says. “But it was still a very challenging process.”
Iconic images that didn’t fit the passport’s design and security requirements had to be carefully reworked. Meanwhile, the administrative side of the project stretched on due to challenges surrounding licensing and other legal complexities. One thing the team didn’t have to worry about, though, was budgeting for steep licensing fees: Each of the artists and copyright holders agreed to have their work included without cost.
The art isn’t merely adornment—it serves a function, too. Scanning the drawings with UV light reveals new colors, deeper shading and security features meant to stymie forgers. The team added 48 distinct security features, though many of the next-gen updates will only be noticed by government officials tasked with thwarting would-be forgers.
“The Belgian passport is one of the best in the world; it is a source of pride for us but also an object of desire for counterfeiters,” says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmès. “This is why we are constantly working to improve its security.”
Yet Bulcke admits it’s the whimsical artwork that has taken center stage since the passport was unveiled in February: “Reception by the public has been very positive. Not only in Belgium, but everywhere, because everyone liked the new theme.”
The passport even got its own exhibit at the Comics Art Museum in Brussels.
Putting the “Fun” in Functional
Belgian Passport | PMI's 2022 Most Influential Projects | #MIP2022
The more designs in a passport, the more difficult it is for forgers to reproduce one. So Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs spearheaded a new Belgian Passport featuring comic strip designs. Each page incorporates two different designs—one visible by the eye and another revealed by UV light.
48 Barriers to Fraud
The project team incorporated 48 features meant to verify the document’s authenticity and the holder’s identity—twice that of the previous version. Along with its light-changing illustrations, protections include:
- A laser-engraved passport number across the hinge that attaches the polycarbonate data page to the booklet, which Thales has called a “huge obstacle” to fraudsters attempting to modify or replace the page with a counterfeit
- An electronic chip containing the same biographic data printed on the polycarbonate data page
- A data page barcode that also contains the holder’s personal data
- Five reproductions of the passport holder’s photo, including laser-engraved photographs
Style Meets Substance
Belgium isn’t the only country to break out a new passport design. Norway’s National Police Directorate teamed up with Oslo’s Neue Design Studio to create travel documents filled with symbols of Norway’s natural world, including mountain scenes with lakes and streams that showcase the country’s landscapes and climates. As with the Belgian passport, there’s also a high-tech twist embedded into the Norwegian project that makes it far more difficult to forge: Exposing the passport to UV light reveals bands of fluorescent blue and green hues representing the northern lights. Read more in our Project Spotlight.