Machine Readable Travel Documents - ICAO

IV-14 Machine Readable Travel Documents
where b = a single blank space, i.e. 12 LUG /JUIL 42
14.1.6 The month may, however, be printed in numerical form in the VIZ, at the discretion of the issuing
State or organization, particularly where this might facilitate the use of the MRtd by countries using other than
the Gregorian calendar. Following a practice established to facilitate the visual inspection of travel documents,
a date would be written DDbMMbYY, where b = a single blank space. For example, a date of 12 July 1942
would appear in the visual zone of the MRtd as follows: 12 07 42. However, when the month is represented
numerically, the issuing State or organization may use the four-digit representation of the year in the VIZ, e.g.
12 07 1942.
14.1.7 Unknown date of birth. Where a date of birth is completely unknown, that data element shall appear
as XXbXXXbXX where b = a single blank space. If only part of the date of birth is unknown, that part shall be
represented by XX if it is the day or year, or by XXX if it is the month.
14.2 Dates in the MRZ. Dates in the MRZ of the MRtd shall, in accordance with the principle set forth in
ISO 8601, be shown as a six-digit number consisting of the last two digits for the year (YY) immediately
followed by two digits for the number of the month (MM) and by two digits for the day (DD). The structure is as
follows: YYMMDD.
14.2.1 Following this format, the example given in 14.1.6 will be shown as: 420712.
14.2.2 If all or part of the date of birth is unknown, the relevant character positions shall be completed with
filler characters (