20R0268-AttachC-DataFormatforPassportCardFinal.docx

Attachment C: Data Format for Passport Card

A. Integrated Circuit Chip (ICC) Data Schema

1. Among participating government entities, there is consensus to use EPCglobal standards in determining the information stored on the RFID chip. EPCglobal is a not-for-profit organization that develops and promotes standards used in the RFID community. Adherence to EPCglobal standards makes it easier to work with a wide choice of vendors, and helps promote interoperability among vendors.

2. The unique identifier of each card to be electronically written should comply with EPCglobal Tag Data Standards. The key to be used is the Global Document Type Identifier (GDTI-96), a simple tool to identify a document by type. RFID chips which meet the GDTI-96 EPCglobal Tag Data Standards are referred to as “Gen 2” tags. The following represents a high-level overview of the GDTI-96 data schema. For more detail, please reference EPCglobal Tag Data Standards Version 1.4. The data schema primarily consists of (refer to Table C-1):

Table C-1. Integrated Circuit Chip Data Schema

(Static, Binary Value)

(Max. decimal range1) 999,999-0 (Max. decimal range1) 2.1+ trillion

1 The Company Prefix and Document Type fields are both variable length. The Partition field indicates which lengths can be found in each of the fields.

a. EPCglobal Header specifying the tag data is encoded as a GDTI-96 96-bit tag construct.

b. EPCglobal Filter Value of 001 identifying a tag as a ‘travel document’. All WHTI-compliant RFID-enabled travel documents will contain ‘001’ for the Filter Value Field. CBP lane equipment is designed to filter out all other Gen 2 RFID numbers for operational needs.

c. Company Prefix: Every new state, agency, or organization that plans to use GDTI-96 for RFID-enabled travel documents must request a Company Prefix from the GS1/EPCglobal organization. The Company Prefix is a 6 to 12 digit number that uniquely identifies an organization throughout the world. The Company Prefix block of the GDTI-96 tag will contain this number. The number is assigned only once; the issuing authority will use the same company prefix for all RFID-enabled travel documents.

d. Document Type: A field managed by the issuing authority that can be used to differentiate between different types of travel documents. While use of this field is not required, CBP recommends that all participating agencies consider its use for future filtering capabilities. Values in this field are always numeric, but will map back to real world values that define the type of document in use. Example uses (with the real-world mappings) could include 1 for adult, 2 for youth, 10 for ID card, etc.

e. Serial Number: 41 bits offers 241 = 2,199,023,255,552 (2.1+ trillion) unique numbers that are managed by the issuing organization. Serial numbers are unique per organization, so any organization can issue a serial number in the range [1 - 2,199,023,255,552]. Each managing organization is responsible to ensure unique serial numbers are encoded across a set of issued travel documents. CBP recommends that serial numbers be assigned using a random number generator. Once a number is assigned, and to prevent subsequent rewriting of data on the chip, the issuing authority is required to use the permalock feature of the chip.

B. Security Features of RFID: Preventing Cloning with the Tag Identifier (TID)

1. The Tag Identifier (TID) found on all Gen 2 chips is an immutable number that uniquely identifies each individual RFID chip. This unique number, when used in conjunction with the GDTI-96 electronic product code (EPC) value, is a very powerful tool that can be used to negate the ability to clone a WHTI GDTI-96 encoded RFID card.

2. Participating WHTI organizations shall ensure that all Gen 2 cards used with WHTI include a 96-bit TID memory bank per ISO 18000-63.

3. Refer to Doc 2600006 – RFID Card Format December 5, 2016.

C. Passport Card Layout This defines the contents and data format for the Passport Card. The Passport Card is formatted according to specifications for TD-1 size travel documents, as described in ICAO Document 9303, Part 5. The card contains both eye readable and machine readable information. For machine reading, information corresponding to personal data is printed in the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ), which is the 23 mm high blank area on the card lower back.

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