The French and the Germans to produce American passports...

Washington, DC, August 4, 2006 - Gemalto (Euronext NL 0000400653 GTO), a world leader in digital security, announced today that the United States of America Government Printing Office (GPO) placed its first order with the company, following Gemalto's electronic passport technology qualification completion. The GPO and U.S. Department of State evaluated the Gemalto solution at their testing facilities and confirmed it fully satisfies the agency's requirements for privacy protection, security, durability, manufacturing yield, and transaction speed and communications performance. The GPO, on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, plans to incorporate the electronic capability in all new passports to be issued in 2007. The United States produced over ten million passports in 2005.