Estamblishment and Operation of National Passport and Secure Document Center.
Law 3103/2003 regulates the issuance of Hellenic passports to be held by a Central Service of the Hellenic Police.
Presidential Decree 126/2006 establishes National Passport Center, which is the only competence service for issuing passports to Greek citizens who either live in Greece, or abroad.
Presidential Decree 178/2014 renames National Passport Center to National Passport and Secure Document Center as a result of the personalization of secure documents from other Greek services.
National Passport and Secure Document Center is located in a highly secured building, which is guarded 24/7 and surveilled by a CCTV. Access to the facilities is being granted through the simultaneous use of a smart card and the holder's fingerprint.
National Passport and Secure Document Center structure is identical to International printing centers that personalize official secure documents. The production line operates 7 days a week in two shifts.
During the design of the operation of the National Passport and Secure Document Center, the main priority was to completely isolate the individual processes required to produce all secure documents. The fulfillment of this condition implies that the personnel of one section is not allowed and cannot participate in more than one stages of the production, nor does it know who is going to handle the application at a later stage. Multiple stages and the use of different personnel in these separate stages are intended to prevent any attempt of corruption.
All consumables and raw materials are stored in high security storage areas, resulting in the elimination of theft and loss of consumables and blank documents.
National Passport and Secure Document Center applies the strictest security measures for the design and issuance of all secure documents, making them amongst the most reliable in the world. Also monitors the science evolution and forgers’ approaches in order to eliminate counterfeit incidents.
National Passport Center, following relevant Decisions and Orders, is responsible for the issuance and / or personalization of the following secure documents:
- Greek Passport (Common - Diplomatic - Service) (Commenced on 01/01/2006).
- Greek Driving Licence (Commenced on 18/01/2009).
- Greek Police Officer Identity Card (Commenced on 16/01/2010).
- Travel Documents (Tritre de Voyage - TDV) for Beneficiaries of International Protection - Stateless persons and Asylum-Seekers (Commenced on 07/05/2011).
- Residence Permit for Aliens of Greek Descent from Albania and Turkey and Residence Permit for Beneficiaries of International Protection (Commenced on 04/06/2013).
- Card of Retired Senior Police Officer (Commenced on 08/07/2014).
- Card of Civilian Personnel of the Hellenic Police Headquarters (Commenced on 18/03/2015).
- Residence Permit and Residence Card for Third-country nationals (Commenced on 22/02/2017).
- Certification of Train Drivers (Operating Locomotives and Trains) (Commenced on 27/03/2019)
- Residence Permit for UK nationals (Commenced on 01/01/2021)
- Identity Card for Greek nationals (Commenced on 25/09/2023)
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