Road Safety and Transport Authority of Bhutan Selects HID Global to Improve the Quality of Driver Licenses and Reduce Counterfeit IDs

HID Global®, a worldwide leader in secure identity solutions, today announced that its industry-leading FARGO® HDP5000 printing and encoding solution has been selected by the Road Safety and Transport Authority (RSTA) of Bhutan, the government agency responsible for printing and issuing driver’s licenses, to meet the high-volume in driver’s license issuance demand for the country’s growing population of road users. The new solution allows the RSTA to quickly print more secure and durable driver’s licenses, lowering the total cost of ownership while meeting the country’s need for more secure ID cards.

Established in 1997, the RSTA is responsible for all vehicle registration and driver license issuance throughout Bhutan, as well as numerous other services for private and commercial motor vehicles.

“We needed a more efficient printing solution that did not compromise security, durability and image quality,” said Tshering Nidup, ICT Officer at RSTA. “Since the driver licenses are also used as citizen identification, it is critical for the ID card to be highly secure and resistant to cloning or counterfeiting.”

Bhutan previously experienced high rates of ID cloning since its licenses lacked the necessary security features to prevent tampering. Additionally, Bhutan has undergone significant economic development and modernization that has led to an increase in new drivers, and the RSTA’s previous printing process was inefficient and created a backlog of printing requests. The RSTA was also dependent on a system that required different vendors for replacing cards, overlaminates and other printer consumables.

HID Global’s FARGO HDP5000 produces Bhutan driver’s licenses that are now resistant to wear, tear and tampering, offering greater security using its High Definition Printing (HDP) and reverse transfer capabilities. By printing a reverse image on the underside of HDP Film and fusing the film to the card surface, the HDP5000 creates an image that looks like a sharp glossy photo versus an ordinary ID badge to improve the quality and lifespan of the card image. Additionally, the new driver’s licenses feature 3-D backgrounds and hidden images, which have resulted in a decline of incidents involving counterfeit IDs according to local law enforcement.

“Ensuring citizens carry authentic identification is one of the most fundamental public security measures a country can have,” said Weijin Lee, Regional Director of Secure Issuance, Asia Pacific with HID Global. “HID Global’s world-class card personalization solutions are designed to meet the need for secure, fraud-resistant IDs that help customers combat counterfeit identification cards, while also addressing the high-volume issuance requirements of RSTA and other government agencies around the world.”

The RSTA deployed 22 printers in total, five printers/encoders in their regional offices and 17 in their district offices across the country to streamline and improve its license issuance operations. Since the initial deployment, the RSTA has issued approximately 40,000 driver’s licenses contributing to reduced wait times for new or replacement driver licenses. Using HID Global’s printing solution allows the RSTA to now procure all printing consumables from one single source for a more streamlined resupplying process instead of relying on multiple vendors to produce driver’s licenses.

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About HID Global

HID Global is the trusted source for innovative products, services, solutions, and know-how related to the creation, management, and use of secure identities for millions of customers around the world. The company’s served markets include physical and logical access control, including strong authentication and credential management; card printing and personalization; visitor management systems; highly secure government and citizen ID; and identification RFID technologies used in animal ID and industry and logistics applications. The company’s primary brands include ActivID®, EasyLobby®, FARGO®, IdenTrust®, LaserCard®, Lumidigm®, Quantum Secure and HID®. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, HID Global has over 2,700 employees worldwide and operates international offices that support more than 100 countries. HID Global® is an ASSA ABLOY Group brand. For more information, visit http://www.hidglobal.com.

® HID, FARGO, HDP and the HID logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of HID Global or its licensors in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks, service marks, and product or service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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