page_title: Biometric passport
section_title: Panama
hierarchical_section_title: Biometric passport / Countries using biometric passports / Panama
caption_attribution_description: English: Front cover of the new Panamanian Passport
context_page_description: A biometric passport is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip which contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of the passport holder. It uses contactless smart card technology, including a microprocessor chip and antenna embedded in the front or back cover, or centre page, of the passport. The passport's critical information is printed on the data page of the passport, repeated on the machine readable lines and stored in the chip. Public key infrastructure is used to authenticate the data stored electronically in the passport chip, making it expensive and difficult to forge when all security mechanisms are fully and correctly implemented.
  Many countries are moving towards issuing biometric passports to their citizens. Malaysia was the first country to issue biometric passports in 1998. In December 2008, 60 countries were issuing such passports, which increased to 120 by June 2017.
  The currently standardised biometrics used for this type of identification system are facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and iris recognition.
context_section_description: Issued since 2014, costs $100.
caption: Cover of a Panamanian Biometric Passport
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