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The Composition of the TAG/MRTD
The TAG/MRTD is an advisory group appointed by the Secretary General of ICAO to assist with the writing of specifications for the MRTDs. The group is currently made up of experts from 17 ICAO member States to assist with the writing of specifications for MRTDs:
Australia, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands, Nigeria, Portugal, Russian Federation, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States.
Delegations to the TAG/MRTD are normally composed of government experts dealing with travel control issues, which might include the passport authority, immigration authority, customs authority, and/or national police authorities.
Observers are also invited to attend TAG/MRTD meetings. Observers can represent either States or non-governmental bodies such as the Airports Council International (ACI), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO - an international body composed of individual national standards organizations (which are themselves composed of representatives from government and private industry) - plays an important role in developing specifications and facilitating their endorsement as ISO Standards for adoption worldwide.
The TAG/MRTD meets every 12 to 18 months, at ICAO Headquarters in Montreal, Canada, for a Plenary Session to review the work of its Working Groups, discuss Member State proposals and decide on amendments or new editions of Doc 9303. Decisions and recommendations are usually arrived at by consensus. The Secretary of the group is an officer of the ICAO Secretariat, who manages the work of the group and reports to the Air Transport Committee of the ICAO Council.
Working Groups:
The Working Groups carry out commissions from the Plenary, work to identify solutions to problems that the Doc 9303 technical specifications have not resolved, draft improvements and additional material for Doc. 9303 and make suggestions to the Plenary for new issues that need to be considered.
The New Technologies Working Group (NTWG)
The New Technologies Working Group (NTWG) is responsible for research, analysis and reporting on new technologies available today or in the future for use in MRTDs. The Group's current emphasis is on document security and identity management. The NTWG was instrumental in designing the four components of the ePassport specifications: the face biometric, contactless chip, logical data structure and public key infrastructure.
The Implementation and Capacity Building Working Group (ICBWG)
The ICBWG was created at the TAG-MRTD/18 (2008) meeting. It's mandate is to assist the Secretariat to implement the Operational Plan as contained in the ICAO Business Plan 2008 - 2010 and any subsequent Business Plans. The ICBWG's current tasks are to identify and implement projects related to the issuance and use of MRTDs and eMRTDs in States and regions, including training, technical asistance, technical co-operation and sources of financial assistance. The projects will include but not be limited to those endorsed under the Universal Implementation of MRTD (UIMRTD) to meet the 2010 deadline. To carry out capacity building outreach activities in conjunction with States, other international organizations, inter-governmental bodies and the private sector. To develop guidance material for implementing MRTDs and eMRTDs standards and specifications, to serve as a forum for discussion and to provide feedback on implementing and operating MRTD standards and specifications.
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