Toronto, Ontario – Giesecke & Devrient (G&D), a global leader in advanced technology for identification and payment, today announced the issuance of an Enhanced Identification Card for Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI), and an Enhanced Driver's Licence for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MTO). This is the beginning of a new, 10 year partnership with Manitoba Public Insurance and a continuation of the current partnership with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. Since the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative came into effect on June 1, 2009, the United States Government requires that all Canadian citizens entering the U.S. by land or water, present a valid passport or other approved secure document that denotes the bearer's identity and citizenship.

The Enhanced Driver's Licence and Enhanced Identification Card were developed by G&D in conjunction with MPI and MTO as a passport alternative. Residents in the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba who are Canadian citizens may now use this card when entering the United States. Getting one of these enhanced cards is strictly voluntary but both governments have seen indications of very strong demand and expect to receive hundreds of thousands of applications.

“Through constant innovation and investment in advanced technology the new cards from G&D are capable to meet the high security standards which are required for identification documents,” comments Jerome McNevitts, President, Card Systems and Solutions, G&D Canada, “To have been chosen to deliver this next generation of ID solutions for the people of Manitoba and Ontario is a privilege and a responsibility that we take seriously”.

“G&D’s attention to detail and focus on customer service were instrumental in the success of Manitoba’s Enhanced Identification Card initiative,” said Dan Guimond, MPI’s vice-president of Business Innovation & Insurance Operations.

“Our corporation was extremely impressed with G&D’s technical competency and unwavering commitment to customer service delivery,” said Guimond. “The success of our EIC program was very much a collaborative effort with Manitobans the benefactors of this strong, team-first philosophy.”

MPI has initially launched with the Enhanced Identification Card, with plans to migrate to the Enhanced Driver's License later in 2009. Using a proprietary process, G&D has integrated a number of security features into the Enhanced Identification Card. There is a combination of features which are both visible and invisible to the human eye. These cards, with a totally new look and feel, are produced in G&D’s state-of-the-art, high-security facility in Markham, Ontario.

MTO is now issuing the Enhanced Driver's Licence for Ontarians. The Enhanced Driver’s Licence contains state-of-the-art fraud prevention measures and security features currently incorporated in the regular Ontario Driver's Licence.

A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip is embedded into the card and is encoded with a unique identification number. No personal information is stored or encoded in the chip. At the U.S. port of entry, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) RFID reader retrieves this unique number and transmits it to the Canadian Border Services Agency. (CBSA). CBSA then queries its database in Canada and the information about the traveler is securely transmitted back to CBP.

The goal of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is to strengthen U.S. border security while facilitating entry for U.S. citizens and legitimate foreign visitors by means of providing standardized documentation that enables the Department of Homeland Security to quickly and reliably identify a traveler.