MANILA, Philippines--Recent regulations in the US and Europe are creating a more urgent need for electronic passports across Asia Pacific countries, according to a report citing business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

Moreover, the need for a reliable solution to counter fraud, illegal immigration, and cross-border terrorism has also bolstered the case for e-passports, the Business Wire report said.

In the report, Frost & Sullivan noted that the United States' Visa Waiver Program that necessitates e-passports for selected countries further enhances this demand. The said program waives visa requirements for travelers with e-passports.

The European Union is also creating similar regulations.

The report describes an e-passport as a machine-readable travel document containing smart card technology.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has issued protocols leading to a standard public key infrastructure or PKI across different countries.

"The PKI is significant in ensuring that the electronic data in the e-passport can be trusted," the report quoted research analyst Michelle Foong as saying.

"However, it will be many years before countries install readers that are interoperable at most borders and agree on the distribution of digital certificates issued by the various member countries," the report stated.

On the vendor side, suppliers will have to find a way to deal with the possible political concerns regarding the costs of migrating from the current infrastructure.

"In creating a secure document such as the e-passport, it is not only the travel document itself that needs to be scrutinized, but rather, the entire system and processes at issuance, immigration points, and back-end systems need to be considered from a security and efficiency perspective," Foong was quoted as saying.