By the end of next year, most Singaporeans will probably replace their passports with new, electronic security-compatible ones, as required by US authorities.

Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said yesterday that Singapore is working to meet the deadline for the documents with machine-readable encoded data.

The US has given Singapore and 27 other countries up to Oct 26 next year to have passports with biometric security measures such as iris recognition.

After that date, visitors from those countries who do not have the correct documents will be allowed only a one-time exemption to enter the US.

After opening the two-day Asia Integrated Circuit Card Forum conference at the Grand Copthorne hotel yesterday, Mr Wong said: "The state of technology of biometrics has reached the level that now allows countries to study this more closely to ensure that we'll have an inter-operable standard for border control and our security.

"If all the countries in the world can come to a common standard which is inter-operable, then we will have a safer world."

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will be calling for tender proposals on the kinds of biometric systems to use in the new electronic passports.

These may include fingerprint, iris, or facial recognition, or a combination of these, Mr Wong said.

He announced that the Government will be conducting inter-operability tests for electronic passports in Singapore throughout next month.

On electronic identity cards, Mr Wong said that there are no current plans for them but they could be introduced in the future.

"Who knows, in time, with improved technology and better usage, and particularly when you wire up Singapore for all kinds of electronic transactions. But I'm not saying we're going to have it very soon."

Privacy is one area that will be scrutinised by the Government.

Mr Wong pointed out that "Singaporeans already have identity cards and they already have driving licences which are like credit cards, and there is a lot of information on both of these cards. They have a lot information on credit cards as well."