The UK Passport Service plans to put
biometric chips into passports by 2005. The agency is to
run a six-month trial to “evaluate issues around
biometric capture using iris, facial recognition and
fingerprints to support the passport card development
programme.” An 'Omnibase' global database of
all passports issued will be created, along with a global
lost, stolen and recovered passport database which is due
by the end of this year.