Smart ID Card Coming to Panama

The Electoral Tribunal of Panama (TE) and the National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG), presented today the technical advances of the pilot plan of the smart card.

The card aims to regulate transactions and processes with the government and the private sector.

"The document will validate the information and provide security it will provide when making transactions in various sectors," explained the general manager of the AIG, Irvin Halman, during a presentation.

The card will remain plasticized -like the current ones, but will add an integrated circuit (chip) and QR code (rapid response code), which will allow it to be read in a secure way, through the applications containing the same information as contained in a physical document: name, address, age and sex.

Halman noted that the personal identity document may be used for transportation, health, online procedures, commerce, banking and others.

For his part, the national deputy director of Cedulación and manager of the TE project, Palm Sasso, added that in the future the card could be used to travel to various countries, as it is currently used by Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

The pilot plan, with an approximate cost of $ 119,995, looks at the issuance of  20,000 smart cards. Massive production is expected after the Panamanian general elections of 2019.