Reference documents

Currently there are six documents designed to provide assistance to those countries desiring to purchase and/or develop an AFIS system:

	Acquisition Guidelines for National AFIS
	Model Clauses for AFIS Acquisition
	Lessons Learned for Implementing National AFIS
	Recommendations for Best Practices of Digital Capture of Mugshots
	Guidelines for the Developed Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS)
	Fingerprint Standards

The Acquisition Guidelines provide advice for acquiring national AFIS systems derived from the joint experience of IAEG delegates. The recommendations included in this document apply specifically to planning and writing the proposal and entering the contract. The IAEG intends to issue additional guidelines covering subsequent stages of life cycle management, such as integration, installation, moigration from legacy systems, and operations and maintenance in the near future.

The Model Clauses document is intended to provide the reader with a convenient listing of Information Exchange Standards and Specifications related to the interchange of fingerprint data to be used in the acquisition of an AFIS, as well as potential contract language to be used. This will allow for a higher level of interoperability among systems that are manufactured by different vendors and suppliers.

The Lessons Learned contribute valuable advice on the program management and control of AFIS projects and for connecting national AFIS to regional and provincial users. These lessons are derived from experiences of the IAEG delegates in procuring, integrating and operating Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems.

The Best Practices document has been developed by a technical committee assigned to the IAEG. It includes recommendations for the capture of mugshots and facial images. The best compromise was sought between the requirements of the police forces as well as the size of the image files.

The Guidelines for the Developed Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) included in this page represent a combination of concepts learned in the development and management of AFIS. It includes some insight into contract development, post delivery system enhancements, and future AFIS applications.

For fingerprints to remain a 'reliable' biometric, minimum Fingerprint Standards must be maintained and promoted by Interpol as part of its role within the international law enforcement community. The use of internationally recognized standards remains an essential part of developing the information sharing network and achieving long term, regular data exchanges between nations.

These documents are advisory in nature. They are intended to assist countries to gain valuable insight into the difficult process of acquiring and implementing national AFIS systems. If you have any questions concerning information presented in this site please contact Mr. Mark Branchflower, IAEG Secretary, at

Fingerprints department

• INTERPOL encourages member countries to exchange fingerprint data between one and other and also to INTERPOL fingerprint service using the INTERPOL implementation of the ANSI/NIST standard. To do this INTERPOL has created a gateway and the specification for the NIST files needed are available on this page for downloading. If you require assistance in creating NIST files please contact the following address:

  Fingerprints department

  
  AFIS - Updating the gateway connecting the e-mail system to AFIS, in conformity with versions 2 and 3 of the ANSI/NIST standard, which correspond to INTERPOL versions 2, 3, 4 and 4.22     (Acrobat files )
  
  
• Guidelines for fingerprint transmission      (Acrobat files )
  
  
• Data format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial & SMT information
  INTERPOL Implementation Version 5 (ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000)          Acrobat files
  prepared by
  The INTERPOL AFIS Expert Group (updated October 23, 2008)
  version 5 - October 23, 2008
  
  
• Products certified for compliance with the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) Image Quality Specifications (IQS)
  (source Federal Bureau of Investigation)

• Data format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial & SMT information
  Acrobat file
  INTERPOL Implementation (ANSI/NIST-ITL 1-2000)   
  prepared by
  The INTERPOL AFIS Expert Group (updated October 2004)
  Version No. 4.22 - July 12, 2004
  
  
• Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, Facial & SMT information
  Acrobat file
  INTERPOL Implementation (ANSI/NIST ITL 1-2000)
  prepared by
  The INTERPOL AFIS Expert Working Group
  Version no 4 – 19 November 2002

• Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint , Facial & SMT Information
  INTERPOL Implementation (ANSI/NIST-ITL 1a-1997)
  prepared by
  The INTERPOL AFIS Expert Working Group
  Version no 3 – June 2001
  

  The present document, the INTERPOL Implementation (INT-I), has been written with the intention of supplementing the ANSI/NIST publication for the guidance of INTERPOL's members .

• Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint
  INTERPOL Implementation (ANSI/NIST-CLS 1-1993)
  prepared by
  The Expert Working Group on Computerized Fingerprint Image Handling
  Version no 2 – October 1998
  Acrobat files