1. You are here: Start
  2. About us
  3. About the Norwegian ID Centre
  4. ID Document

ID Document

Physical documents are of central importance in the assessment of identity. It is crucial that document inspectors have the necessary skills to detect false documents at the earliest stage possible. At the same time, this contributes to providing credibility to the vast majority that present genuine documents.

As the security features of travel and identity documents improve, forgers need to improve their criminal skills even further. This demands frequent updates of document inspectors’ professional competence.

Through the development of methods, coordination, guidance and training, the ID Document Department contributes to the detection of false ID documents.

We have established a state-of-the-art forensic laboratory that meets the requirements of the research community. Our facilities are available to document investigators in the immigration authorities and the police. We arrange frequent courses and seminars. It is our aim to be a meeting place for personnel working with ID assessment; - a place where ideas can be bounced around that forms a link to the national and international research communities.

In our laboratory we are able to carry out authenticity assessments of all types of travel, identity and breeder documents by prior arrangement with our collaborative partners. Our document investigators also carry out evaluations of trends and threats, based on information generated by our own team and by our collaborative partners in Norway and abroad. 

The ID Document Department is in the process of building up a reference library consisting of physical documents and technical/administrative information regarding genuine and false documents from all over the world. The evaluation and description of each individual document's level of integrity is an important aspect of this work.

In 2013 eight new specialist document examiners graduated from the Norwegian ID Centre's two-year training programme. This is an important contribution to developing expertise in the ID field, and it makes the Norwegian ID Centre one of the leading expert bodies in Norway on identity.

We are part of the EU Working Party on Frontiers/False Documents, the European Document Experts Working Group (EDEWG), under the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes (ENFSI), and a member of the Frontex Expert board within EXP-DOC. We are also a partner of the DISCS-cooperation.