SPANISH ID CARDS

SPANISH ID CARDS

Spanish identity cards
Spanish identity cards
We use the Spanish ID card as our primary means of identification to public bodies and authorities. We carry it around in our wallets every day, and most of us aren't exactly sure which version of the Spanish ID card exists. What are its uses, what are the meanings of certain fields like the MRZ, or what security features (laser markings, holograms) it contains?

Would you like to learn more about our Spanish identity cards on the occasion of their 75th anniversary? Read on; we answer these questions in the following article:

A LITTLE HISTORY: THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPANISH ID CARDS
The current NID was created during the Franco dictatorship on March 2, 1944. For 150 years, other identification documents were used, such as identity cards or passports, which did not contain a photo and therefore had to be provided with a description. Curiously, a competition was held to design this standardized document, with a prize of 30,000 pesetas for the selected design.

On March 20, 1951, the first national identity card was issued to an ordinary citizen. Numbers 10 to 99 are reserved for the royal family, while number 13 was discarded due to superstition.

Spanish identity cards
Spanish identity cards
Until July 12, 1990, there were up to five versions of the Spanish identity card. That year, the first computerized identity card in Spanish history was issued. This model remained in force for 16 years and was modified several times. In 2006, the first electronic identity card was introduced, enabling the electronic processing of administrative and administrative procedures with the administration.

TYPES OF CURRENT ELECTRONIC SPANISH ID CARDS
The first computerized ID card (1990) did not include a fingerprint and only had two lines of OCR (Optical Character Recognition). The second version included a color photo and an additional third line of OCR. The third electronic ID card also included the Spanish National Identity Card (IDESP), and gender was set to MF (female) and VM (male). In 2006, the first electronic ID card with a chip appeared.

FIRST ELECTRONIC IDENTITY CARD (2006–2015)
The first chip-enabled identity card transformed the national identity card into an electronic document. It is a laser-engraved polycarbonate card the size of a conventional credit card. It allows connection to telematics services via a card reader connected to a computer. Because it requires special hardware such as a card reader and the installation of computer drivers, few citizens used the chip for formalities.

SPANISH ID CARD 3.0
DNIe 3.0 has been in development since 2015. The main difference from the electronic ID card (DNIe 2.0) is that the chip has a dual interface. This allows for connection via hardware, but also wirelessly via NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, which is present in most mobile phones and tablets. This eliminates the need for special hardware; only an NFC-enabled mobile phone and a corresponding app are required.

The new electronic ID card has the chip on the back rather than the front, and is legally as valid as a handwritten signature. Furthermore, it is the most secure ID card in Spain. Its holograms make counterfeiting extremely difficult.

Spanish identity cards
Spanish identity cards
WHAT IS DNI 3.0 USEFUL FOR?
As an electronic certificate, the DNI 3.0 serves to prove the identity of its rightful owner to anyone (authentication certificate). It can also be used as a signature certificate, to certify the integrity of a document, and as a travel document in countries that accept it (it has a data structure similar to a passport). The ICAO MRTD (Machine Readable Travel Document) standard of the International Civil Aviation Organization is the most widely used standard for passports and travel documents in most countries worldwide.

MEANING OF THE DNI 3.0 FIELDS
This image from the Spanish National Police shows the meaning of each field. However, we'll explain the most complicated ones:

Spanish identity cards
Spanish identity cards
CAN NUMBER (CARD ACCESS NUMBER)
A 6-digit numeric key that the DNI 3.0 reader can use to create a session key for data exchange. In other words, the only way to access the information contained in the DNI 3.0 via RFID or NFC is to know the CAN.

CLI FIELD (CHANGING LASER IMAGE)
It contains our initials (last name and first name), which change when the document is moved to display the background with the date the document was issued.

OCR / MRZ
This MRZ (machine-readable zone) consists of machine-readable OCR characters. The fields of the OCR data zone are:

1.[ID] 2.[ESP] 3.[ABC123456] 4.[0] 5.[12345678Z] 6.[<<<<<<]
7.[741015] 8.[0] 9.[M] 10.[090322] 11.[6] 12.[ESP] 13.[<<<<<<<<<<] 14.[9]
15.[DE
ID: Document type
ESP: Nationality
Serial number

of the cardholder
Field 3: Control digit
Identity card number
Fill out
Date of birth (YYMMDD)
Field 7: Control digit
Gender (M/F)
Expiry date
Field 10: Control digit
nationality
Fill out
Control digit for fields 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 (composite)
First name
As you can see, all the important information on the front of the ID card is also included in the MRZ. Furthermore, four control digits make it difficult for laypeople to forge the card, as they would need to know the algorithms used to calculate them.

As you can see from the field description, the last digit of the second row does NOT indicate the number of people with the same name, but is a global check digit. Therefore, the assumption that this digit represents a false meaning is incorrect.

Thanks to the continuous research work of our R&D department, we have developed a product that automates the scanning of an ID card. All text information is extracted using OCR (or NFC for the new ID card 3.0) and facial recognition is used to verify that the ID card presented during the registration process is the actual owner.