In addition to the regional ID document award, a Special Achievement Award was made to the Service of Technological Security of State Documents under the Ministry of Finance, Lithuania, for their new driving licence.
Since regaining its independence in 1990 Lithuania has introduced four generations of driver’s licences. Whilst the licence is not recognised in the country as an identity document, it became one of the most frequently forged state documents, prompting the government to upgrade it six times over the course of 12 years. Over that period, to combat counterfeiting, the Service made progressive changes to the design of the document.

The latest redesign incorporates a suite of modern security features and includes a number of advanced features such as diffractive and UV elements, embossing and anti-copy patterns as well as a transparent window integrating the holder’s secondary photo. The new document is produced by Oberthur Technologies, with Vision-Box supplying an integrated biometric enrolment solution for Regitra, the Lithuanian State Enterprise responsible for issuing the country’s licences.

The history of the Lithuanian driver’s licence demonstrates that what may seem a straightforward issue can take years to contain. Full credit should be given to Lithuania for their continuous efforts in developing a state of the art document, which to date remains the only version that has seen no counterfeits.