RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 4, 2025--
Leveraging its decades-long expertise in identity verification, Regula has made its advanced document verification software fully compatible with a wide range of third-party ID scanners and passport readers available on the market. Now, border control checkpoints, hotels, banks, medical organizations, and other institutions can take advantage of the most robust, forensic-level automated document verification and authentication regardless of the devices they are currently using.
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Regula’s ID verification software is an on-premises solution, which means it works offline and keeps sensitive ID data secure. It seamlessly integrates with leading passport readers and can be fully customized depending on the device model and its functional capabilities. This not only ensures quick migration to a robust identity verification (IDV) core solution, but also allows businesses and government agencies to maximize the potential of their existing hardware investments.
Forensic-level document verification
Regula’s ID verification software for document readers offers the most comprehensive set of ID authenticity checks. It automatically reads, analyzes, and cross-compares data from multiple sources, including RFID chips, machine-readable zones (MRZs), barcodes, and visual zones, to ensure they are consistent and not tampered with.
Regula’s software also supports authenticity checks in various illumination modes, such as white, ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), and coaxial lighting. Plus, the solution allows checking holograms and other optically variable devices and inks.
Global ID support
The software comes with the market’s most comprehensive identity document template database, which Regula owns and maintains. It currently contains over 14,800ID templates from 251 countries and territories, and keeps growing. Also, the database enables the recognition of 138 languages and a great variety of scripts.
Optionally, the software can be integrated with the Regula Information Reference System, a unique digital collection of detailed images and descriptions of identity and vehicle documents, as well as banknotes and coins. Covering every country and territory in the world, the Regula Information Reference System contains over 337,000 high-resolution images of documents and their security features captured in different light sources. Thus, the system provides an indispensable and reliable reference to compare against, even for the rarest documents.
Effortless installation and flexible licensing
Designed with user convenience in mind, Regula’s ID verification software is a turnkey solution that can be installed in three clicks and requires no development time or tech-heavy resources. With extensive documentation and native support for all major frameworks and programming languages, the software integrates seamlessly into existing systems and workflows. The flexible licensing options fit almost any use case and cover various verification scenarios.
Streamlined document processing
Regula’s ID verification software takes document processing to the next level with its powerful and highly accurate Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. The software offers advanced capabilities such as support for parsing names, surnames, addresses, countries, and other key fields. It automatically divides text into separate fields—for instance, segmenting an address into postal code, state, and country—making the extracted data more organized and actionable. Additionally, the OCR module handles complex date formats and characters from different character sets within a single line, ensuring seamless data interpretation across diverse document types.
Future-ready solution
As identity verification standards and document formats continue to evolve, Regula stays at the cutting edge of this transformation. Not only is Regula’s IDV software constantly updated, but it proactively supports new identity document types, security features, and verification methods. For example, with its latest update, Regula ID verification software ensures full support of Digital Travel Credentials (DTCs), a new digital way of presenting and processing travel documents. With this approach, any passport reader will remain comprehensively equipped to perform the most innovative IDV checks.
“By ensuring compatibility with most passport readers on the market, we’re empowering organizations to leverage advanced ID verification software without the need for new hardware investments and drastic changes. Regula’s software offers forensic-level precision, customization and flexibility, as well as compliance with the highest security standards, setting a new benchmark for document authentication,” says Ihar Kliashchou, Chief Technology Officer at Regula.
To learn more about the features and capabilities of Regula’s ID verification software for passport readers, please visit the official website.
About Regula
Regula is a global developer of forensic devices and identity verification solutions. With our 30+ years of experience in forensic research and the most comprehensive library of document templates in the world, we create breakthrough technologies for document and biometric verification. Our hardware and software solutions allow over 1,000 organizations and 80 border control authorities globally to provide top-notch client service without compromising safety, security, or speed. Regula has been repeatedly named a Representative Vendor in the Gartner® Market Guide for Identity Verification.
Learn more at www.regulaforensics.com.
Regula’s document verification software is fully compatible with a wide range of third-party ID scanners and passport readers on the market. (Graphic: Regula)
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to revive his struggling government but faced growing calls to resign after a disastrous set of local and regional elections for his Labour Party.
As the final results came in Saturday, Labour suffered a net loss of more than 1,100 local council seats across England, lost control of several local authorities it had held for decades and was booted from power in Wales after 27 years. Anti-immigration party Reform UK gained over 1,300 seats across England and made significant gains in legislative elections in Wales and Scotland.
It was a blunt verdict from voters in elections widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led the center-left party to power less than two years ago.
Here are five things we’ve learned from the elections.
Starmer insisted he would not walk away and "plunge the country into chaos,” and the dire election results did not produce an immediate challenge to his leadership.
"The right thing to do is rebuild and show the path forward,” Starmer said Saturday. “That’s what I’m going to do in the coming days.”
Starmer’s Cabinet colleagues expressed support, and none of the high-profile Labour politicians considered potential challengers has made a move. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are keeping quiet for now.
But a growing number of Labour lawmakers urged the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure this year. British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a new election.
“There has to be a timetable,” legislator Clive Betts told the BBC. Another lawmaker, Tony Vaughan, said there should be an “orderly transition of leadership.”
Starmer tried to demonstrate change on Saturday by bringing back two figures from past Labour governments. He made former Prime Minister Gordon Brown a special envoy on global finance, and appointed the party's ex-deputy leader Harriet Harman an adviser on women and girls.
Starmer is due to make a speech on Monday in an attempt to regain momentum, before the government sets out its legislative plans on Wednesday in a speech delivered by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament.
The elections were a breakthrough for Reform UK, the latest hard-right party led by the veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage.
Running on an anti-establishment and anti-immigration message, the party won hundreds of local council seats in working-class areas in England’s north, such as Sunderland, that were solid Labour turf for decades. It also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like the county of Essex, east of London, and increased its vote share in Wales and Scotland, new terrain for the party.
Farage said the results marked a “historic change in British politics.” He said he's confident that “voters who have come to us are not doing it as a short-term protest.”
Reform UK currently holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons and it’s unclear whether it could repeat its success in a national election.
The elections produced semiautonomous administrations in Scotland and Wales led by parties devoted to independence and the breakup of the United Kingdom — though neither has that policy on the front burner.
The Scottish National Party, which has governed in Edinburgh since 2007, won another term but fell short of a majority, meaning an independence referendum is unlikely. Labour and Reform tied in a distant second place.
Plaid Cymru (The Party of Wales) won the most seats in the Cardiff-based legislature, the Senedd. The party, which has an ambition for Wales to leave the U.K. but no plan to do so anytime soon, fell short of a majority but will likely form the new government. Reform came second and Labour a distant third in one of its most historic heartlands, with outgoing First Minister Eluned Morgan losing her seat.
The economy lies at the heart of Labour’s troubles, as it does for many incumbent governments.
Since ending 14 years of Conservative rule roiled by austerity and the COVID-19 pandemic, Labour has struggled to ease the cost of living and jump-start a sluggish economy against the tough economic backdrop of war in Ukraine and, more recently, Iran. Starmer also has angered supporters with attempts to cut welfare spending, some of which were reversed after Labour revolts.
Some in Labour say the government's achievements, including protections for renters and a higher minimum wage, are going unnoticed. Many blame Starmer, an uninspiring leader distracted by scandals including his disastrous decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as Britain’s ambassador to Washington.
But Stephen Houghton, the outgoing leader of Barnsley council in northern England, where Labour lost to Reform, said the problem “goes deeper than the prime minister.”
“This has been coming for 30 years around the country, in post-industrial communities, coastal communities, that have been left behind,” he said. “You can change prime ministers all day long. If you don’t change policy, it’s not going to change.”
The results reflect a fragmentation of U.K. politics after decades of domination by Labour and the Conservative Party, which also suffered major losses on Thursday.
The elections offered voters a rainbow of choices, including the centrist Liberal Democrats and the nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales.
But the big winners were populist insurgents, Reform UK and the Green Party, whose focus has expanded from the environment to social justice and the Palestinian cause under self-described “eco populist” leader Zack Polanski. The Greens won hundreds of council seats from Labour in urban centers and university towns and took control of several local authorities.
Tony Travers, professor of government at the London School of Economics, said the results suggest the next national election, due by 2029, won’t produce a majority for any party.
“So then you’re in the world of, after the election, two or three big minority parties trying to work out how they would govern,” he said — something traditionally considered “very un-British.”
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking to the media after meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)
First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney with some of the newly elected SNP MSPs in Edinburgh, Saturday May 9, 2026, following the 2026 Holyrood elections. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaking to the media after meeting Labour Party members during a visit to AFC Wimbledon in south London, Saturday May 9, 2026. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)
Observers from the Scottish National Party (SNP) watch as votes are counted for the 2026 Holyrood elections, at Dewars Centre in Perth, Scotland, Friday May 8, 2026. (Jane Barlow/PA via AP)
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks to supporters at Chelmsford City Racecourse, Friday May 8, 2026, in Essex, England, following the 2026 local election results. (Jordan Pettitt/PA via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to Labour Party members at Kingsdown Methodist Church Hall, in Ealing, west London, Friday May 8, 2026, a day after the local elections. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
