In Laos, a project has been launched to create Russian-made microcontrollers for electronic documents, on the basis of which a system has been created to produce and record biometric passports for citizens. The company was curated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, according to the press service of the department.

The pilot zone of this system was presented at Wattay International Airport on April 5, 2016. The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Communications and the Russian Foreign Ministry, as well as the leadership of FSUE "Goznak" and JSC "NIIME and Mikron.

During the presentation of the system specialists demonstrated the whole chain of using biometric passport - from data collection and recording of information on the chip to automatic passport reading when crossing the border through special gates at the airport.

In 2014 FSUE "Goznak" together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Laos recorded agreements on the creation of a system for the use of passport and visa documents of a new generation of Russian production with the ability to record biometric data of the owner. In 2015 FSUE Goznak developed an information system and infrastructure for issuing and receiving passports for Laos, and also prepared for the production of forms of biometric passports based on the Russian microcontroller, developed and mass-produced at JSC "NIIME and Mikron", the largest Russian manufacturer of integrated circuits and RFID products. The programme for creating microcontrollers for electronic documents and payment cards in Russia is overseen by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Microcontroller К5016ХС2 manufactured by JSC NIIME and Mikron, used in biometric passports, has two types of interface and is designed for use in secure identification systems: passports and other identification documents, banking, secure access systems, digital signature systems, etc. The chip operating system supports the use of international and proprietary cryptographic algorithms, as well as allows you to record the biometric data of the owner. High resistance of the chip to mechanical, climatic and electrical effects provides reliable protection and long guaranteed service life of the Russian-made electronic document.

At the first stage of the project implementation NIIME & Mikron supplied FSUE Goznak microcontrollers for manufacturing 400 thousand forms of new generation biometric passports.