LONDON, December 1 /PRNewswire/ --     The official opening of the world's first purpose built ePassport
research and production facility took place on 26th November. The dedicated,
state of the art manufacturing plant has been built on a brown-field site by
De La Rue Identity Systems in the Republic of Malta. The new 2,600 square
metres building lies adjacent to De La Rue Currency's banknote printing
facility which is the largest commercial banknote factory in the world. The
opening of the ePassport factory by Prime Minister Dr. Lawrence Gonzi, seals
over thirty years of first-class manufacturing operations for De La Rue in
Malta.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081201/330603 )

Drawing on almost a century of experience in designing and producing
passports, De La Rue will be using the new plant for next generation
ePassport development, testing and production. Employing 44 local people, the
site utilises advanced technologies and is anticipated to produce up to two
million ePassports annually, with the option of almost doubling production
output if required. The facility has been designed from scratch and purpose
built in order to keep De La Rue's business at the forefront of today's
identity management solutions.

This new factory allows De La Rue to print and assemble both machine
readable and biometric passports, as well as carry out all necessary quality
assurance and product testing. The impressive list of on-site equipment
includes a purpose built e-PIC machine that links directly to internal
quality control systems which validates the chip integrity throughout the
production cycle.

De La Rue has already achieved ISO accreditation for Integrated
Management Systems for the site. It took just nine months from demolition of
the previous building to the completion of the new factory. Environmental
concerns have remained at the heart throughout this project; from building on
a recovered brown-field site to the installation of extensive water recovery
facilities; the use of solvent free chemicals and recycled packaging
materials; and also at the very end of the manufacturing process where waste
incineration has been replaced with environmentally friendly granulation.

Malta lies virtually at the centre of the Mediterranean, making it a
prime location for shipment to De La Rue Identity Systems' globally dispersed
customers who span every continent. A highly skilled, dedicated workforce has
been easy to source locally and much of the development work relating to
production processes has been done on the island. Throughout its history in
Malta, De La Rue has always found it can recruit very high calibre production
and industrial engineers. The location of the new ePassport facility next to
the banknote factory means that De La Rue can share key support services and
leverage the high standards of security already in place at the Currency
site.

The ePassport site is managed by Albert Zammit, a Maltese national, who
has recently returned from Sri Lanka where he managed De La Rue's banknote
printing factory for the past seven years. He said, 'De La Rue is extremely
proud to have worked in partnership with the Maltese authorities to establish
the world's first dedicated ePassport production site. Its official opening
by Dr Lawrence Gonzi, Prime Minister of Malta, is evidence of the key
strategic role that the factory will play in the development and production
of the world's most secure national identity documents.'

James Thorburn, Managing Director, De La Rue Identity Systems, commented,
'European Union membership, location, a skilled workforce and a real spirit
of partnership were all key factors in establishing De La Rue's new ePassport
plant in Malta. We are now in a very strong position to serve our clients as
demand for our proven ePassport solution continues to grow rapidly.'

http://www.delarue.com

De La Rue and the Founders Head device are registered trademarks of De La
Rue Holding plc. De La Rue Identity Systems is a trademark of De La Rue
International Limited.