Proposed New JTC 1 Subcommittee on Biometrics - Scope and Initial Program of Work

Proposed New JTC 1 Subcommittee on Biometrics - Scope and Initial Program of Work

The US NB submits this document in response to Resolution 1 from the Berlin SGF Meeting. Point 1 of the Resolution "requests the United States to provide to the JTC 1 Secretariat a proposed scope and program of work for a new Subcommittee on Biometrics as proposed in JTC 1 N 6702". This document does indeed provide a proposed Scope and Program of Work for the new SC. Of note, the USNB makes it quite clear that "Excluded is the work in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17 to apply biometric technologies to cards and travel documents". However, the Scope and Program of Work also stress the generic nature of this work which cuts across many applications and systems requiring a new SC to respond to the many and diverse technologies being introduced.

Scope: Standardization of generic biometric technologies to support interoperability and data interchange between applications and systems. Generic biometric standards include: common file formats; application programming interfaces; biometric templates; template protection techniques; and related application/implementation profiles, as well as methodologies for conformity assessment.

Excluded is the work in ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 17 to apply biometric technologies to cards and travel documents.

Brief Narrative on the Initial Program of Work: Many have expressed support for the urgent need for international biometric standardization. There is a great deal of work to be done in generic biometric standardization. The magnitude of the initial work justifies a new JTC 1 SC. The magnitude of the follow on work will sustain the new JTC 1 SC for the foreseeable future. The establishment of a new JTC 1 SC for generic biometric standardization will provide the appropriate venue to exploit the present window of opportunity to accelerate and harmonize international biometric standardization. Harmonization of generic international biometric standards with other international standards is necessary to support standards based systems and applications that are interoperable, scalable, reliable, and secure.

There are several key areas where generic international biometric standards are absolutely necessary. Fortunately, some of the key areas already have candidate standards available that are suitable for processing under the JTC 1 fast track process, with assignment to the new JTC 1 SC for Biometrics. Other key areas will require the rapid initiation of new standards projects and contributions of working drafts to the new JTC 1 SC for Biometrics. These key areas are interrelated and the evolution of these standards will require very active maintenance by the new JTC 1 SC for Biometrics. The initial program of work of the new JTC 1 SC for Biometrics would focus on the following four key areas:

Application Program Interfaces (APIs) - In September 2001, the BioAPI Consortium (www.bioapi.org) submitted their BioAPI Specification, Version 1.1 to INCITS (http://www.incits.org/) for fast track processing within the US. Subsequently, ANSI/INCITS 358-2002 - Information technology - BioAPI Specification, was approved on February 13, 2002. The US now plans to submit ANSI/INCITS 358-2002 to JTC 1 for fast track processing within JTC 1 and suggests assignment to the proposed new JTC 1 SC for Biometrics. The growing market deployment of standards based biometric technologies will inevitably lead to the need for this standard to evolve. It is anticipated that this evolution will require very active maintenance by the new JTC 1 SC.

File Formats - The Common Biometric Exchange File Format (CBEFF), NISTIR 6529 (www.nist.gov/cbeff), was published in January 2001. The NIST/BC Biometric WG (www.nist.gov/bcwg) is now rapidly developing an augmented version of the Common Biometric Exchange File Format (CBEFF). The development of an augmented version is in response to requests from several countries for additional requirements. The augmented version is expected to be downward compatible with the present version of CBEFF. It is now anticipated that the US would submit the augmented version to JTC 1 for fast track processing by the end of 2002, and suggest assignment to the proposed new JTC 1 SC for Biometrics. The growing market deployment of standards based biometric technologies will inevitably lead to the need for this standard to evolve. It is anticipated that this evolution will require very active maintenance by the new JTC 1 SC.

Biometric Template Standardization - Open consensus standards for biometric templates could provide great benefits to both producers and consumers of biometric technologies by expanding markets and applications. Within the US, INCITS M1 (http://www.incits.org/tc_home/m1.htm) is now reviewing project proposals for standardizing biometric templates for fingerprint, iris, and face recognition. The US should be in a position to contribute several NPs, and possibly candidate WDs, for biometric template standards to the proposed new JTC 1 SC for Biometrics by the fall of 2002. The US would welcome contributions from other National Bodies in this area.
Biometric template standardization for other physiological or behavioral characteristics is very likely to be proposed in the future. Also, work is underway in the Biometric Consortium (http://www.biometrics.org/) on biometric templates that could use multiple biometric measures. Consequently, it is anticipated that this will be a very active project area in the new JTC 1 SC.

Application/Implementation Profiles - Profiles identify the use of particular options available in the base standards, such as the standards referenced in 1 to 3 above. Profiles are important to support interoperability and data interchange between applications and systems. Profiles also provide a basis for the development of uniform, internationally recognized, conformance tests. The core base standards for biometric application/implementation profile development could include the: application program interface, common file format, biometric templates, compression methods, and encryption methods, among others. Within the US, INCITS M1 is now reviewing this area of standardization. The US should be able to contribute one or more NPs for biometric application/implementation profile standards to the proposed new JTC 1 SC for Biometrics by the end of 2002. The US would welcome contributions from other National Bodies in this area.
The growing market deployment of standards based biometric technologies will inevitably lead to the need for application/implementation profile standards to evolve. Consequently, it is anticipated that this will be a very active project area in the new JTC 1 SC.