title: Passport

text: Several entities without a sovereign territory issue documents described as passports, most notably Iroquois League, the Aboriginal Provisional Government in Australia and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Such documents are not necessarily accepted for entry into a country.


title: Passport

text: Each country sets its own conditions for the issue of passports. Under the law of most countries, passports are government property, and may be limited or revoked at any time, usually on specified grounds, and possibly subject to judicial review. In many countries, surrender of one's passport is a condition of granting bail in lieu of imprisonment for a pending criminal trial due to flight risk. When passport holders apply for a new passport (commonly, due to expiration of the previous passport, insufficient validity for entry to some countries or lack of blank pages), they may be required to surrender the old passport for invalidation. In some circumstances an expired passport is not required to be surrendered or invalidated (for example, if it contains an unexpired visa).


title: Passport

text: Requirements for passport applicants vary significantly from country to country, with some states imposing stricter measures than others. For example, Pakistan requires applicants to be interviewed before a Pakistani passport will be granted. When applying for a passport or a national ID card, all Pakistanis are required to sign an oath declaring Mirza Ghulam Ahmad to be an impostor prophet and all Ahmadis to be non-Muslims. In contrast, individuals holding British National (Overseas) status are legally entitled to hold a passport in that capacity.


title: Passport

text: Countries with conscription or national service requirements may impose restrictions on passport applicants who have not yet completed their military obligations. For example, in Finland, male citizens aged 18–30 years must prove that they have completed, or are exempt from, their obligatory military service to be granted an unrestricted passport; otherwise a passport is issued valid only until the end of their 28th year, to ensure that they return to carry out military service. Other countries with obligatory military service, such as South Korea and Syria, have similar requirements, e.g. South Korean passport and Syrian passport.


title: Passport

text: Many countries require passports to be valid for a minimum of six months beyond the planned date of departure, as well as having at least two to four blank pages. It is recommended that a passport be valid for at least six months from the departure date as many airlines deny boarding to passengers whose passport has a shorter expiry date, even if the destination country does not have such a requirement for incoming visitors.


title: Passport

text: Passport booklets from almost all countries around the world display the national coat of arms of the issuing country on the front cover. The United Nations keeps a record of national coats of arms, but displaying a coat of arms is not an internationally recognised requirement for a passport.


title: Passport

text: There are several groups of countries that have, by mutual agreement, adopted common designs for their passports:


title: Passport

text: Passports sometimes contain a message, usually near the front, requesting that the passport's bearer be allowed to pass freely, and further requesting that, in the event of need, the bearer be granted assistance. The message is sometimes made in the name of the government or the head of state, and may be written in more than one language, depending on the language policies of the issuing authority.


title: Passport

text: In 1920, an international conference on passports and through tickets held by the League of Nations recommended that passports be issued in the French language, historically the language of diplomacy, and one other language. Currently, the ICAO recommends that passports be issued in English, French and Spanish, or in the national language of the issuing country and in either English, French or Spanish. Many European countries use their national language, along with English and French.


title: Passport

text: A passport is merely an identity document that is widely recognised for international travel purposes, and the possession of a passport does not in itself entitle a traveller to enter any country other than the country that issued it, and sometimes not even then. Many countries normally require visitors to obtain a visa. Each country has different requirements or conditions for the grant of visas, such as for the visitor not being likely to become a public charge for financial, health, family, or other reasons, and the holder not having been convicted of a crime or considered likely to commit one. Where a country does not recognise another, or is in dispute with it, entry may be prohibited to holders of passports of the other party to the dispute, and sometimes to others who have, for example, visited the other country; examples are listed below. A country that issues a passport may also restrict its validity or use in specified circumstances, such as use for travel to certain countries for political, security, or health reasons.


title: Passport

text: Many nations implement border controls restricting the entry of people of certain nationalities or who have visited certain countries. For instance Georgia refuses entry to holders of passports issued by the Republic of China. Similarly, since April 2017, nationals of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Iran have been banned from entering the parts of eastern Libya under the control of the Tobruk government. The Pakistani passports explicitly mention that these passports are valid in all countries except Israel. The majority of Arab countries, as well as Iran and Malaysia, ban Israeli citizens, however exceptional entry to Malaysia is possible with approval from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Certain countries may also restrict entry to those with Israeli stamps or visas in their passports. As a result of tension over the Artsakh dispute, Azerbaijan currently forbids entry to Armenian citizens as well as to individuals with proof of travel to Artsakh.


title: Passport

text: Between September 2017 and January 2021, The United States of America did not issue new visas to nationals of Iran, North Korea, Libya, Somalia, Syria, or Yemen pursuant to restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, which were subsequently repealed by the Biden administration on 20 January 2021. While in force, the restrictions were conditional and could be lifted if the countries affected meet the required security standards specified by the Trump administration, and dual citizens of these countries could still enter if they presented a passport from a non-designated country.


title: Passport

text: One method by which to rank the value of a passport is to calculate its mobility score (MS). The mobility score of a passport is the number of countries that allow the holder of that passport to enter for general tourism visa-free, visa-on-arrival, eTA, or eVisa issued within 3 days. the strongest and weakest passports are as follows:


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Castor and Pollux (or Polydeukes) are twin half-brothers in Greek and Roman mythology, known together as the Dioscuri.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Their mother was Leda, but they had different fathers; Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, the king of Sparta, while Pollux was the divine son of Zeus, who raped Leda in the guise of a swan. The pair are thus an example of heteropaternal superfecundation. Though accounts of their birth are varied, they are sometimes said to have been born from an egg, along with their twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: In Latin the twins are also known as the Gemini (literally "twins") or Castores, as well as the Tyndaridae or Tyndarids. Pollux asked Zeus to let him share his own immortality with his twin to keep them together, and they were transformed into the constellation Gemini. The pair were regarded as the patrons of sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo's fire. They were also associated with horsemanship, in keeping with their origin as the Indo-European horse twins.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: There is much contradictory information regarding the parentage of the Dioscuri. In the Homeric "Odyssey" (11.298–304), they are the sons of Tyndareus alone, but they were sons of Zeus in the Hesiodic "Catalogue" (fr. 24 M–W). The conventional account (attested first in Pindar, Nemean 10) combined these paternities so that only Pollux was fathered by Zeus, while Leda and her husband Tyndareus conceived Castor. This explains why they were granted an alternate immortality. The figure of Tyndareus may have entered their tradition to explain their archaic name "Tindaridai" in Spartan inscriptions, or "Tyndaridai" in literature, in turn occasioning incompatible accounts of their parentage. Their other sisters were Timandra, Phoebe, and Philonoe.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Castor and Pollux are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. One consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Pollux. In Homer's" Iliad", Helen looks down from the walls of Troy and wonders why she does not see her brothers among the Achaeans. The narrator remarks that they are both already dead and buried back in their homeland of Lacedaemon, thus suggesting that at least in some early traditions, both were mortal. Their death and shared immortality offered by Zeus was material of the lost "Cypria" in the Epic cycle.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The Dioscuri were regarded as helpers of mankind and held to be patrons of travellers and of sailors in particular, who invoked them to seek favourable winds. Their role as horsemen and boxers also led to them being regarded as the patrons of athletes and athletic contests. They characteristically intervened at the moment of crisis, aiding those who honoured or trusted them.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Ancient Greek authors tell a number of versions of the story of Castor and Pollux. Homer portrays them initially as ordinary mortals, treating them as dead in the "Iliad" ("... there are two commanders I do not see, / Castor the horse breaker and the boxer / Polydeuces, my brothers ..." – Helen, "Iliad" 3.253–255), but in the "Odyssey" they are treated as alive even though "the corn-bearing earth holds them". The author describes them as "having honour equal to gods", living on alternate days because of the intervention of Zeus. In both the "Odyssey" and in Hesiod, they are described as the sons of Tyndareus and Leda. In Pindar, Pollux is the son of Zeus while Castor is the son of the mortal Tyndareus. The theme of ambiguous parentage is not unique to Castor and Pollux; similar characterisations appear in the stories of Herakles and Theseus. The Dioscuri are also invoked in Alcaeus' Fragment 34a, though whether this poem antedates the Homeric Hymn to the twins is unknown. They appear together in two plays by Euripides, "Helen" and "Elektra".


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Cicero tells the story of how Simonides of Ceos was rebuked by Scopas, his patron, for devoting too much space to praising Castor and Pollux in an ode celebrating Scopas' victory in a chariot race. Shortly afterwards, Simonides was told that two young men wished to speak to him; after he had left the banqueting room, the roof fell in and crushed Scopas and his guests.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Both Dioscuri were excellent horsemen and hunters who participated in the hunting of the Calydonian Boar and later joined the crew of Jason's ship, the "Argo".


title: Castor and Pollux

text: During the expedition of the Argonauts, Pollux took part in a boxing contest and defeated King Amycus of the Bebryces, a savage mythical people in Bithynia. After returning from the voyage, the Dioscuri helped Jason and Peleus to destroy the city of Iolcus in revenge for the treachery of its king Pelias.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: When their sister Helen was abducted by Theseus, the half-brothers invaded his kingdom of Attica to rescue her. In revenge they abducted Theseus's mother Aethra and took her to Sparta while setting his rival, Menestheus, on the throne of Athens. Aethra was then forced to become Helen's slave. She was ultimately returned to her home by her grandsons Demophon and Acamas after the fall of Troy.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Castor and Pollux aspired to marry the Leucippides ("daughters of the white horse"), Phoebe and Hilaeira, whose father was Leucippus ("white horse"). Both women were already betrothed to cousins of the Dioscuri, the twin brothers Lynceus and Idas of Messenia, sons of Tyndareus's brother Aphareus. Castor and Pollux carried the women off to Sparta wherein each had a son; Phoebe bore Mnesileos to Pollux and Hilaeira bore Anogon to Castor. This began a family feud among the four sons of the brothers Tyndareus and Aphareus.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The cousins carried out a cattle-raid in Arcadia together but fell out over the division of the meat. After stealing the herd, but before dividing it, the cousins butchered, quartered, and roasted a calf. As they prepared to eat, the gigantic Idas suggested that the herd be divided into two parts instead of four, based on which pair of cousins finished their meal first. Castor and Pollux agreed. Idas quickly ate both his portion and Lynceus' portion. Castor and Pollux had been duped. They allowed their cousins to take the entire herd, but vowed someday to take revenge.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Some time later, Idas and Lynceus visited their uncle's home in Sparta. The uncle was on his way to Crete, so he left Helen in charge of entertaining the guests, which included both sets of cousins, as well as Paris, prince of Troy. Castor and Pollux recognized the opportunity to exact revenge, made an excuse that justified leaving the feast, and set out to steal their cousins' herd. Idas and Lynceus eventually set out for home, leaving Helen alone with Paris, who then kidnapped her. Thus, the four cousins helped set into motion the events that gave rise to the Trojan War.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Meanwhile, Castor and Pollux had reached their destination. Castor climbed a tree to keep a watch as Pollux began to free the cattle. Far away, Idas and Lynceus approached. Lynceus, named for the lynx because he could see in the dark, spied Castor hiding in the tree. Idas and Lynceus immediately understood what was happening. Idas, furious, ambushed Castor, fatally wounding him with a blow from his spear – but not before Castor called out to warn Pollux. In the ensuing brawl, Pollux killed Lynceus. As Idas was about to kill Pollux, Zeus, who had been watching from Mount Olympus, hurled a thunderbolt, killing Idas and saving his son.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Returning to the dying Castor, Pollux was given the choice by Zeus of spending all his time on Mount Olympus or giving half his immortality to his mortal brother. He opted for the latter, enabling the twins to alternate between Olympus and Hades. The brothers became the two brightest stars in the constellation Gemini ("the twins"): Castor (Alpha Geminorum) and Pollux (Beta Geminorum). As emblems of immortality and death, the Dioscuri, like Heracles, were said to have been initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. In some myths, Poseidon rewarded them with horses to ride and power to aid shipwrecked men.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Castor and Pollux are consistently associated with horses in art and literature. They are widely depicted as helmeted horsemen carrying spears. The Pseudo-Oppian manuscript depicts the brothers hunting, both on horseback and on foot.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: On votive reliefs they are depicted with a variety of symbols representing the concept of twinhood, such as the "dokana" (δόκανα – two upright pieces of wood connected by two cross-beams), a pair of amphorae, a pair of shields, or a pair of snakes. They are also often shown wearing felt caps, sometimes with stars above. They are depicted on metopes (an element of a Doric frieze) from Delphi showing them on the voyage of the "Argo" (Ἀργώ) and rustling cattle with Idas. Greek vases regularly show them capturing Phoebe and Hilaeira, as Argonauts, as well as in religious ceremonies and at the delivery to Leda of the egg containing Helen. They can be recognized in some vase-paintings by the skull-cap they wear, the "pilos" (πῖλος), which was already explained in antiquity as the remnants of the egg from which they hatched.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: They were described by Dares Phrygius as "blond haired, large eyed, fair complexioned, and well-built with trim bodies".


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The Dioskouroi were worshipped by the Greeks and Romans alike; there were temples to the twins in Athens, such as the Anakeion, and Rome, as well as shrines in many other locations in the ancient world.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The Dioskouroi and their sisters grew up in Sparta, in the royal household of Tyndareus; they were particularly important to the Spartans, who associated them with the Spartan tradition of dual kingship and appreciated that two princes of their ruling house were elevated to immortality. Their connection there was very ancient: a uniquely Spartan aniconic representation of the Tyndaridai was as two upright posts joined by a cross-bar; as the protectors of the Spartan army the "beam figure" or "dókana" was carried in front of the army on campaign. Sparta's unique dual kingship reflects the divine influence of the Dioscuri. When the Spartan army marched to war, one king remained behind at home, accompanied by one of the Twins. "In this way the real political order is secured in the realm of the Gods".


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Their "herōon" or grave-shrine was on a mountain top at Therapne across the Eurotas from Sparta, at a shrine known as the "Meneláeion" where Helen, Menelaus, Castor and Pollux were all said to be buried. Castor himself was also venerated in the region of Kastoria in northern Greece.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: They were commemorated both as gods on Olympus worthy of holocaust, and as deceased mortals in Hades, whose spirits had to be propitiated by libations. Lesser shrines to Castor, Pollux and Helen were also established at a number of other locations around Sparta. The pear tree was regarded by the Spartans as sacred to Castor and Pollux, and images of the twins were hung in its branches. The standard Spartan oath was to swear "by the two gods" (in Doric Greek: νά τώ θεὼ, "ná tō theō", in the Dual number).


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The rite of "theoxenia" (θεοξενία), "god-entertaining", was particularly associated with Castor and Pollux. The two deities were summoned to a table laid with food, whether at individuals' own homes or in the public hearths or equivalent places controlled by states. They are sometimes shown arriving at a gallop over a food-laden table. Although such "table offerings" were a fairly common feature of Greek cult rituals, they were normally made in the shrines of the gods or heroes concerned. The domestic setting of the "theoxenia" was a characteristic distinction accorded to the Dioskouroi.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The image of the twins attending a goddess are widespread and link the Dioskouroi with the male societies of initiates under the aegis of the Anatolian Great Goddess and the great gods of Samothrace. During the Archaic period, the Dioscuri were venerated in Naukratis. The Dioscuri are the inventors of war dances, which characterize the Kuretes.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The ancient city of Dioscurias or Dioskurias (Διοσκουριάς) on the Black Sea coast, modern Sukhumi, was named after them. In addition, according to legend the city was founded by them. According to another legend, the city was founded by their charioteers, Amphitus and Cercius of Sparta.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The island of Socotra, located between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, was called by the Greeks "Dioskouridou" (Διοσκουρίδου νήσος), meaning "the island of the Dioscuri".


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The heavenly twins appear in Indo-European tradition as the effulgent Vedic brother-horsemen called the Ashvins, Lithuanian Ašvieniai, and possibly Germanic Alcis.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: From the 5th century BCE onwards, the brothers were revered by the Romans, probably as the result of cultural transmission via the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in southern Italy. An archaic Latin inscription of the 6th or 5th century BCE found at Lavinium, which reads "Castorei Podlouqueique qurois" ("To Castor and Pollux, the Dioskouroi"), suggests a direct transmission from the Greeks; the word "qurois" is virtually a transliteration of the Greek word "κούροις", while "Podlouquei" is effectively a transliteration of the Greek "Πολυδεύκης". The construction of the Temple of Castor and Pollux, located in the Roman Forum at the heart of their city, was undertaken to fulfill a vow "(votum)" made by Aulus Postumius Albus Regillensis in gratitude at the Roman victory in the Battle of Lake Regillus in 495 BCE. The establishment of a temple may also be a form of "evocatio", the transferral of a tutelary deity from a defeated town to Rome, where cult would be offered in exchange for favor. According to legend, the twins fought at the head of the Roman army and subsequently brought news of the victory back to Rome. The Locrians of Magna Graecia had attributed their success at a legendary battle on the banks of the Sagras to the intervention of the Twins. The Roman legend could have had its origins in the Locrian account and possibly supplies further evidence of cultural transmission between Rome and Magna Graecia.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The Romans believed that the twins aided them on the battlefield. Their role as horsemen made them particularly attractive to the Roman "equites" and cavalry. Each year on July 15, Feast Day of the Dioskouroi, 1,800 equestrians would parade through the streets of Rome in an elaborate spectacle in which each rider wore full military attire and whatever decorations he had earned.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: In translations of comedies by Plautus, women generally swear by Castor, and men by Pollux; this is exemplified by the slave-woman character Staphyla in "A Pot of Gold" (act i, ll. 67–71) where she swears by Castor in line 67, then the negative prefix in line 71 denotes a refutation against swearing by Pollux.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Photius wrote that Polydeuces was a lover of Hermes, and the god made him a gift of Dotor (), the Thessalian horse.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The Etruscans venerated the twins as "Kastur" and "Pultuce", collectively as the "tinas cliniiaras", "Sons of Tinia", Etruscan counterpart of Zeus. They were often portrayed on Etruscan mirrors. As was the fashion in Greece, they could also be portrayed symbolically; one example is seen in the Tomb of the Funereal Bed at Tarquinia where a "lectisternium" is painted for them. Another is symbolised in a painting depicted as two pointed caps crowned with laurel, referring to the Phrygian caps.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: Even after the rise of Christianity, the Dioskouroi continued to be venerated. The 5th century pope Gelasius I attested to the presence of a "cult of Castores" that the people did not want to abandon. In some instances, the twins appear to have simply been absorbed into a Christian framework; thus 4th century CE pottery and carvings from North Africa depict the Dioskouroi alongside the Twelve Apostles, the Raising of Lazarus or with Saint Peter. The church took an ambivalent attitude, rejecting the immortality of the Dioskouroi but seeking to replace them with equivalent Christian pairs. Saints Peter and Paul were thus adopted in place of the Dioskouroi as patrons of travelers, and Saints Cosmas and Damian took over their function as healers. Some have also associated Saints Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Melapsippus with the Dioskouroi.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: The New Testament scholar Dennis MacDonald identifies Castor and Pollux as models for James son of Zebedee and his brother John in the Gospel of Mark. MacDonald cites the origin of this identification to 1913 when J. Rendel Harris published his work Boanerges, a Greek version probably of an Aramaic name meaning "Sons of Thunder", thunder being associated with Zeus, father of Pollux, in what MacDonald calls a form of early Christian Dioscurism.


title: Castor and Pollux

text: More directly, the Acts of the Apostles mentions the Dioskouroi in a neutral context, as the figurehead of an Alexandrian ship boarded by Paul in Malta (Acts 28:11).


title: Sony Music

text: Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment and managed by the American umbrella division of Sony.


title: Sony Music

text: It was originally founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation and renamed as Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938, following its acquisition by the Columbia Broadcasting System. In 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records, and Sony Corporation bought the company in 1988, renaming it under its current name in 1991. In 2004, Sony and Bertelsmann established a 50-50 joint venture known as Sony BMG, which transferred the businesses of Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group into one entity. However, in 2008, Sony acquired Bertelsmann's stake, and the company reverted to the Sony Music name shortly after; the buyout allowed Sony to acquire all of BMG's labels, which led to the relaunch of BMG, as BMG Rights Management. All of BMG's former labels (Arista, Jive, LaFace, J, etc.) would eventually be absorbed into RCA Records (also formerly owned by BMG) in 2011. Arista Records would later go on to be revived in 2018.


title: Sony Music

text: As of 2020, Sony Music Entertainment is the second largest of the "Big Three" record companies, behind Universal Music Group and followed by Warner Music Group. Its music publishing division Sony/ATV (now known as Sony Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world.


title: Sony Music

text: On July 17, 2019, Sony announced that Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV would merge to become Sony Music Group. The merger was completed on August 1, 2019.


title: Sony Music

text: The American Record Corporation (ARC) was founded in 1929 through a merger of several record companies. The company grew for the next several years, acquiring other brands such as the Columbia Phonograph Company, including its Okeh Records subsidiary, in 1934.


title: Sony Music

text: In 1938, ARC was acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) under the guidance of the chief executive William S. Paley. The company was later renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, and changed again to Columbia Records Inc. in 1947. Edward Wallerstein, who served as the head of Columbia Records since the late 1930s, helped establish the company as a leader in the record industry by spearheading the successful introduction of the LP record. Columbia's success continued through the 1950s with the launch of Epic Records in 1953 and Date Records in 1958. By 1962, the Columbia Records productions unit was operating four plants around the United States located in Los Angeles, California; Terre Haute, Indiana; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Pitman, New Jersey.


title: Sony Music

text: Columbia's international arm was launched in 1962 under the name "CBS Records", as the company only owned the rights to the Columbia name in North America. In 1964, the company began acquiring record companies in other countries for its CBS Records International unit and established its own UK distribution outfit with the acquisition of Oriole Records.


title: Sony Music

text: By 1966, Columbia was renamed as CBS Records and was a separate unit of the parent company, CBS-Columbia Group. In March 1968, CBS and Sony formed CBS/Sony Records, a Japanese business joint venture.


title: Sony Music

text: In 1971, CBS Records was expanded into its own "CBS Records Group", with Clive Davis as its administrative vice president and general manager. In the 1980s to the early 1990s, the company managed several successful labels, including CBS Associated Records, which signed artists including Ozzy Osbourne, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Electric Light Orchestra, Joan Jett, and Henry Lee Summer. In 1983, CBS expanded its music publishing business by acquiring the music publishing arm of MGM/UA Communications Co. (CBS later sold the print music arm to Columbia Pictures.) By 1987, CBS was the only "big three" American TV network to have a co-owned record company. With Sony being one of the developers behind the compact disc digital music media, a compact disc production plant was constructed in Japan under the joint venture, allowing CBS to begin supplying some of the first compact disc releases for the American market in 1983.


title: Sony Music

text: In 1986, CBS sold its music publishing division, CBS Songs, to SBK Entertainment On November 17, 1987, Sony acquired CBS Records for US$2 billion. CBS Inc., now Paramount Global, retained the rights to the CBS name for music recordings but granted Sony a temporary license to use the CBS name. The sale was completed on January 5, 1988. CBS Corporation founded a new CBS Records in 2006, which was distributed by Sony through its RED subsidiary.


title: Sony Music

text: In 1989, CBS Records re-entered the music publishing business by acquiring Nashville-based Tree International Publishing.


title: Sony Music

text: Sony renamed the record company Sony Music Entertainment (SME) on January 1, 1991, fulfilling the terms set under the 1988 buyout, which granted only a transitional license to the CBS trademark. The CBS Associated label was renamed Epic Associated. Also on January 1, 1991, to replace the CBS label, Sony reintroduced the Columbia label worldwide, which it previously held in the United States and Canada only, after it acquired the international rights to the trademark from EMI in 1990. Japan is the only country where Sony does not have rights to the Columbia name as it is controlled by Nippon Columbia, an unrelated company. Thus, Sony Music Entertainment Japan issues labels under Sony Records. The Columbia Records trademark's rightsholder in Spain was Bertelsmann Music Group, Germany, which Sony Music subsequently subsumed via a 2004 merger, and a subsequent 2008 buyout.


title: Sony Music

text: In 1995, Sony and Michael Jackson formed a joint venture which merged Sony's music publishing operations with Jackson's ATV Music to form Sony/ATV Music Publishing.


title: Sony Music

text: In August 2004, Sony entered a joint venture with an equal partner Bertelsmann, by merging Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group, Germany, to establish Sony BMG Music Entertainment. However Sony continued to operate its Japanese music business independently from Sony BMG while BMG Japan was made part of the merger.


title: Sony Music

text: The merger made Columbia and Epic sister labels to RCA Records, which was once owned by CBS rival, NBC. It also started the process of bringing BMG's Arista Records back under common ownership with its former parent Columbia Pictures, a Sony division since 1989, and also brought Arista founder Clive Davis back into the fold. As of 2017, Davis was still with Sony Music as chief creative officer.


title: Sony Music

text: On August 5, 2008, Sony Corporation of America (SCA) and Bertelsmann announced that Sony had agreed to acquire Bertelsmann's 50% stake in Sony BMG. The company completed the acquisition on October 1, 2008. On July 1, 2009, SME and IODA announced a strategic partnership to leverage worldwide online retail distribution networks and complementary technologies to support independent labels and music rights holders. In March 2010, Sony Corp partnered with The Michael Jackson Company in a contract of more than $250 million, the largest deal in recorded music history.


title: Sony Music

text: From 2009 to 2020, Sony owned 50% of Syco Entertainment, which operates some of the world's most successful reality TV formats, including "Got Talent" and "The X Factor" with Simon Cowell. Cowell acquired Sony's stake in 2020.


title: Sony Music

text: Doug Morris, who was head of Warner Music Group, and later Universal Music, became chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment on July 1, 2011. Sony Music underwent restructuring upon Morris' arrival; with some artists switching labels while other labels were eliminated altogether.


title: Sony Music

text: In June 2012, a consortium led by Sony/ATV acquired EMI Music Publishing, making Sony/ATV the world's largest music publisher at the time. This acquisition also reunited the common ownership of pre-1986 CBS Songs (as SBK Songs) catalog to Sony/ATV.


title: Sony Music

text: Rob Stringer became CEO of Sony Music Entertainment on April 1, 2017. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Columbia Records.


title: Sony Music

text: Sony has experienced a number of changes with its international labels. In February 2012, Sony Music reportedly closed its Filipino office due to piracy, and Ivory Music and Video had been handling distribution for its catalog a few months earlier in July 2011. In early 2018, their distribution deal with Ivory expired and SME resumed its operations in the Philippines, with the new offices still located in Ortigas Center, Pasig. In July 2013, Sony Music withdrew from the Greek market due to an economic crisis. Albums released by Sony Music in Greece from domestic and foreign artists would then be carried by Feelgood Records.


title: Sony Music

text: In June 2017, Sony announced that by March 2018 it would be producing vinyl records in-house for the first time since ceasing their production in 1989. Reporting the decision, the BBC noted that, "Sony's move comes a few months after it equipped its Tokyo studio with a cutting lathe, used to produce the master discs needed for manufacturing vinyl records" but added that "Sony is even struggling to find older engineers who know how to make records".


title: Sony Music

text: On February 5, 2019, a group of 1970s-era musicians including David Johansen and John Waite filed lawsuits accusing Sony Music Entertainment and UMG Recordings, Inc. of improperly refusing to let them reclaim the rights to songs they had signed away earlier in their careers. The lawsuit cites U.S. copyright law, which gives artists who formerly bargained away their rights on unfavorable terms a chance to reclaim those rights by filing termination notices after 35 years. The plaintiffs claim that Sony and UMG have “routinely and systematically” ignored hundreds of notices, having taken the position that recordings are “works made for hire” and are therefore not subject to being reclaimed.


title: Sony Music

text: In April 2021, the Brazilian media company Grupo Globo sold its domestic record label Som Livre to Sony Music for an undisclosed amount. It was approved by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense on November 4, 2021.


title: Sony Music

text: In 2022, Sony Music Entertainment acquired boutique branding and merchandising agency, Ceremony of Roses(CoR). The newly aquired company would merge with Sony's existing merch division and continue under the CoR banner. The merger brought together artists like Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo, and Adele under one merchandising house. According to Sony, the move will help expand their merchandising team and take artists' merch to the next level.


title: Sony Music

text: Sony Music UK (legal name "Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited") is owned and operated by Sony Music Entertainment in the United Kingdom. Since 2014, Jason Iley has been chairman and CEO of Sony Music UK. Though owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music UK has standalone operations in the UK to promote musicians within the UK.


title: Sony Music

text: In June 2017, it was announced that Sony would be merging its two independent distribution companies The Orchard and Red Essential.


title: Sony Music

text: 2014 saw Sony's best singles success for 33 years, with 11 number 1 singles. Sony Music artists won a total of five individual awards at the BRITs 2015, including Best Female Solo Artist for Paloma Faith, and Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk", which picked up Best British Single. Several other of the label's artists - Foo Fighters, One Direction and Pharrell Williams - also collected awards.


title: Sony Music

text: Sony's performance at the BRITs 2015 was the label's best in nearly 20 years, winning a total of 5 awards. In 2017, Sony Music UK celebrated the most successful BRIT Awards in the company's history, winning seven of the 11 awards.


title: Sony Music

text: In the last three years, Sony Music UK has made key acquisitions including forming Insanity Records with Insanity Management. Craig David became the first artist to sign an album deal with Insanity Records. Sony Music UK signed Robbie Williams, who released his 11th album "The Heavy Entertainment Show" in 2016. Jason Iley commented that the agreement was "a once in a lifetime signing with the biggest male solo artist of our generation".


title: Sony Music

text: Sony Music UK also incorporated the independent sales and distribution company Essential Music and Marketing - renamed to Red Essential. In August 2016, Sony Music acquired Ministry of Sound Recordings, home to London Grammar, DJ Fresh and Sigala.


title: Sony Music

text: On April 5, 2017, two of Sony Music UK's labels won awards at the annual Music Week Awards. Columbia Records received the 'A&R of the Year' Award, while Syco were awarded the 'Record Company of the Year' Award.


title: Sony Music

text: In 2021, Sony agreed to buy Kobalt neighboring rights division and independent distribution company AWAL, from the Kobalt Music Group for $430 million.


title: Sony Music

text: The UK media company Somethin' Else was acquired outright by Sony Music in 2021, to form a podcast division.


title: Sony Music

text: Between 1995 and 2000, music companies were found to have used illegal marketing agreements such as minimum advertised pricing to artificially inflate prices of compact discs. This was done in order to end price wars of the early 1990s among discounters such as Best Buy and Target. A settlement was reached in 2002 that included music publishers and distributors Sony Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann Music Group, EMI Music and Universal Music. In restitution for price fixing, they agreed to pay a $67.4 million fine and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups but admitted no wrongdoing. It is estimated that customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million overall and up to $5 per album.


title: Sony Music

text: The British artist, George Michael, signed to Columbia in the U.S. and Epic worldwide, advised Sony executives in 1990 that he would not be appearing in music videos to support his forthcoming album, Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 1. Michael then accused Sony of not promoting the album at all. He sued in the UK in 1992, asking to be released from his contract. Sony ultimately prevailed in the courts in 1994, but Michael's contract was bought out by other labels. Some 11 years later, Michael licensed tracks to Sony for release.


title: Sony Music

text: The release of "Invincible" was preceded by a dispute between Michael Jackson and Sony Music Entertainment. Jackson had expected the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert to him sometime in the early 2000s, after which he would be able to promote the material however he pleased and keep the profits; however, clauses in the contract set the revert date years into the future. Jackson discovered that the attorney who had represented him in the deal had also been representing Sony. He was also concerned that for years Sony had been pressuring him to sell his share in its music catalog venture; he feared that Sony might have had a conflict of interest, since if Jackson's career failed, he would have had to sell his share of the catalog at a low price. Jackson sought an early exit from his contract.


title: Sony Music

text: In July 2002, Jackson alleged that the then-Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola was a "devil" and "racist" who did not support his African-American artists, using them merely for his own gain. He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti a "fat nigger". Sony refused to renew Jackson's contract, and claimed that a promotional campaign had failed because Jackson refused to tour in the United States.


title: Sony Music

text: In May 2012, Sony Music filed charges against the website IsoHunt. The plaintiff's claims in the court document filed at the Supreme Court of British Columbia read: "The IsoHunt Websites have been designed and are operated by the defendants with the sole purpose of profiting from rampant copyright infringement which defendants actively encourage, promote, authorize, induce, aid, abet, materially contribute to and commercially profit from." In February 2016, in a lawsuit filed at a California federal court, Sony Music Entertainment and its associated brands (Arista Records and LaFace Records, formerly owned by Bertelsmann Music Group) accused Belgian radio aggregator Radionomy (owned by Universal Music Group's parent Vivendi) of copyright infringement.


title: Sony Music

text: In February 2016, 100,000 people signed an online petition in less than 24 hours, calling for a boycott of Sony Music and all other Sony-affiliated businesses after rape allegations against music producer Dr. Luke were made by musical artist Kesha. Kesha asked a New York City Supreme Court to free her from her contract with Sony Music, but the court denied the request, prompting a widespread public and media response.


title: National identification number

text: A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number or JMBG/EMBG is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purposes of work, taxation, government benefits, health care, and other governmentally-related functions.


title: National identification number

text: The ways in which such a system is implemented vary among countries, but in most cases citizens are issued an identification number upon reaching legal age, or when they are born. Non-citizens may be issued such numbers when they enter the country, or when granted a temporary or permanent residence permit.


title: National identification number

text: Many countries issued such numbers for a singular purpose, but over time, they become a "de facto" national identification number. For example, the United States developed its Social Security number (SSN) system as a means of organizing disbursing of Social Security benefits. However, due to function creep, the number has become used for other purposes to the point where it is almost essential to have one to, among other things, open a bank account, obtain a credit card, or drive a car. Although some countries are required to collect Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) information for overseas payment procedures, some countries, like the US, are not required to collect other nations' TIN if other requirements are met, such as date of birth. Authorities use databases and they need a unique identifier so that data actually refer to the searched person. In countries where there is no established nationwide number, authorities need to create their own number for each person, though there is a risk of mismatching people.


title: National identification number

text: The Nigerian National Identification Number (NIN) is issued and managed by National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), and it is a set of eleven digits (e.g.: 134789009), assigned to Nigerians of all ages, and legal residents by the Government.


title: National identification number

text: In the Republic of South Africa every citizen must apply for an Identity Document from the age of 16 years. The ID number is already allocated at the time the birth certificate is generated and required for child passport applications. This passport-size document contains only 8 pages - the first page containing the national identification number (also in barcoded format), name of bearer, district or country of birth, as well as a photograph of the bearer. The other pages are used for recording of voting participation, a page for driver's license information (although it is no longer used since the introduction of plastic card type licenses), as well as pages for fire arms licenses (also plastic card type now). The document is required to apply for a passport, car learner's license (over 17), motorcycle learner's license (over 16), driving license (over 18), motorcycle license (over 16 or 18 depending on cc) and to vote (over 18). The Identity Document is not used for international travel purposes (a separate passport is issued) but usually is acceptable photographic identification for internal flights, and mainly serves as proof of identification. Some authorities may accept the driver's license as proof of identity, but the Identity Document is the only universally accepted form of identification. The government has started issuing ID cards which contains a biometric chip which, in turn, holds biographical information which is unique to the holder of that specific card. The South African government has since phased out the Green Barcoded Identity Document and replaced it with the plastic Smart Identity Card. The Identity number is also used when the holder applies for a grant from the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).


title: National identification number

text: A South African person identification number is a 13-digit number containing only numeric characters, and no whitespace, punctuation, or alpha characters. It is defined as YYMMDDSSSSCAZ:


title: National identification number

text: The ID indicates that a male citizen was born on 1 January 1980; he was the 10th male to be registered (assuming that the first male to be registered on that day would be assigned the sequence number 5000).


title: National identification number

text: During the apartheid era the next to last digit, "A", denoted "race". Since these documents were not then issued to the majority population, the "race" code does not include those classified as Black. i.e. 7605300675088


title: National identification number

text: After about 1987, the racial classification was eliminated, and all existing numbers were reissued with new digits in the last two fields (AZ).


title: National identification number

text: In contrast to other countries the South African ID number is not unique, at least because of the use of a two-digit year. Other issues with duplications exist: however the Department of Home Affairs HANIS Project has planned to rectify that with ID smart cards. The timeline for that is undetermined as the last budget request for 08/09 and 09/10 included requests for budget for it despite the project being active since 1997.


title: National identification number

text: Upon reaching the age of 16 the applicant then has to go to the registrar generals offices in their district to obtain a national ID. Foreigners in Zimbabwe have their ID number with the district of origin as 00 meaning they are foreigners so their ID number would look like 12 345678 A00. Zimbabweans who are not of black race also get a district of origin shown as 00, even those who are of mixed race. It was announced in September 2021 by the Department of Home Affairs and Cultural Affairs that the '00' code would be abolished as it differentiates "citizens on the basis of race, colour and creed"


title: National identification number

text: In Argentina the only nationally issued identification is the DNI, "Documento Nacional de Identidad" (National Identity Document). It is a number not related to anything in particular about the person (except for immigrants who get assigned numbers starting at 92,000,000). It is assigned at birth by the "Registro Nacional de las Personas" (National Registry for People), but parents need to sign up their children, and because of this there are some people, especially the poor, who do not have a DNI.


title: National identification number

text: The ID is required for applying for credit, opening a bank account, and for voting. Law requires a person to show his or her DNI when using a credit card. Prior to the DNI the LC (Libreta Cívica, for women), and LE (Libreta de Enrolamiento, for men) were used. This was later unified in the DNI.


title: National identification number

text: For taxpaying purposes, the CUIT and CUIL (Código Único de Identificación Tributaria, Unique Code for Taxpaying Identification and Código de Identificación Laboral, Unique Code for Laboral Identification) are used. An example of the ID is 20-10563145-8. It is based on the DNI and appends 2 numbers at the beginning and one at the end. For example, 20 and 23 for men, 27 for women, and one control digit at the end. Employees have a CUIL (assigned at the moment the DNI is created), and employers have a CUIT. The first two digits to identify the CUIT for companies are for instance: 30 or 33. If a person decides to open a company of its own, his CUIL usually becomes his CUIT. The CUIT was needed because a different identification is required for companies, who cannot be identified by a DNI number.


title: National identification number

text: In Brazil there are two systems. The first, the "Registro Geral" (RG) is a number associated to the official ID card. Although the ID cards are supposedly national, the RG numbers are assigned by the states and a few other organizations, such as the armed forces. So, not only is it possible for a person to have the same RG number as a person from other state (which is usually dealt with by specifying the state which issued the ID card), but it is also possible to (legally) have more than one RG, from different states.


title: National identification number

text: The other system, the "Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas" (CPF) is federal and supposedly unique (barring fraud), but it was created originally for purposes of taxation (a related system is used for companies, which is called Cadastro Nacional de Pessoas Jurídicas - CNPJ). One, the other or both numbers are required for many common tasks in Brazil, such as opening a bank account or getting a driver's license. The RG system is more widespread, but its shortcomings have led to debate about merging both systems into a new one, which would be based around the CPF.


title: National identification number

text: Another type of registration is the Social Security Number, which is originated when a person creates one in the National Social Security Institute's site or starts to work for a company, when this one has to register the employee in the Social Integration Program.


title: National identification number

text: There is another number for elections, which are mandatory participation for citizens from 18 to 70 years old.


title: National identification number

text: The use of the Social Insurance Number (SIN) as a de facto ID number ended in 2004 with passage of The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. There are only certain instances where an organization may ask for a SIN (namely for tax or retirement benefit related issues). The SIN must be guarded as confidential personal information, and therefore cannot be used as a general ID number. Nevertheless, the SIN is still used as a unique identifier for the Canada Revenue Agency (similar to USA's IRS & England's HMRC) to track individuals who are filing their income tax returns.


title: National identification number

text: In Chile the National Identification Number is called RUN "(Rol Único Nacional)" but is usually called RUT "(Rol Único Tributario)" since the number is the same as the one used for tax purposes. The main difference between them is that a RUN is only assigned to natural persons, while juristic persons can only get a RUT number.


title: National identification number

text: In the case of natural persons, the RUN/RUT number is used as a national identification number, as a taxpayer number, as a social insurance number, as a driver's license number, for employment, etc. It is also commonly used as a customer number in banks, retailers, insurance companies, airlines, etc. Until the end of August 2013, the RUN was also used as the passport number. After this date, Chilean passports have had unique numbers.


title: National identification number

text: Since well before 1990, every baby born is given a RUN number; it was previously assigned when applying to get an ID card. Non-Chilean residents also get a RUN and an identification card. Every company or organization also must have a RUT for taxation purposes.


title: National identification number

text: The RUN or RUT has 7 or 8 digits (for people alive today; in the past, there were persons with a 5- or 6-digit one) plus a check digit or letter (xx.xxx.xxx-z, z is {0-9, K}).


title: National identification number

text: In Colombia, each person is issued a basic ID card during childhood ("Tarjeta de Identidad"). The ID number includes the date of birth and a short serial number. Upon reaching the age of 18, every citizen is reissued a citizenship card ("Cédula de Ciudadanía"), and the ID number on it is used and required in all instances, public and private.


title: National identification number

text: Every Colombian national traveling abroad is issued a passport document (which includes a passport number related to the national identification number); in this manner foreign governments can track Colombian nationals with their consulates.


title: National identification number

text: There is as well a number assigned to companies: NIT ("Número de Identificación Tributaria"). Tributary Identification Number (for its Spanish acronym). Among other things, it is used for tax reports.


title: National identification number

text: As of 2003 created the NUIP ("Número Único de Identificación Personal"), starting the numbering per billion (1,000,000,000).


title: National identification number

text: In Mexico, the ID number is called the CURP (Clave Única de Registro de Población) although the most important and accepted ID card would be the election card ("credencial de elector" or else "credencial del INE," as per the initials of "Instituto Nacional Electoral/National Institute of Elections, the institution responsible for electoral procedures). There are, however, other important ID numbers in Mexico: for instance, the social security number, which is the number assigned by Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (Mexican Institute of Social Security, or IMSS) to every citizen who starts working, or the RFC (Registro Federal del Contribuyente) which is assigned by the Treasury and has the same format as the CURP but a shorter length.


title: National identification number

text: In the United States, the Social Security number (SSN) is nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents. Its purpose was to identify individuals for the purposes of Social Security, but it is now also used to track individuals for taxation purposes. There is no legal requirement to have a SSN if it is not required for Social Security or taxation purposes, but in practice one is required for many other purposes, for example to open a bank account or apply for a driving license, so that nearly all U.S. citizens and permanent residents have one. The SSN has therefore become a "de facto" national identification number, despite the fact that originally it was expressly not for this purpose. In fact, a valid SSN can be easily guessed, as they were issued serially prior to June 25, 2011.


title: National identification number

text: A Selective Service Number must be applied for by all male citizens and immigrant non-citizens turning age 18, to register for military conscription. Though the United States currently employs a volunteer military, all males are required to register in case of a potential draft.


title: National identification number

text: In Venezuela, the Administrative Service of Identification, Migration, and Immigration (SAIME) issues an ID card for individuals in their teens (Cédula de Identidad). The ID card includes date of birth, a correlative number (population continuous number for nationals, greater than 80,000,000 for foreign-born residents), a photo, marital status, expiration date (an expired ID card is still valid for nationals), and a fingerprint. Newly issued ID cards are valid for 10 years.


title: National identification number

text: Private companies and public entities are assigned a RIF (Fiscal Information Registry) number for taxable purposes. For natural persons, it is their ID number + checksum digit.


title: National identification number

text: In Bahrain every citizen and resident must hold an Identification Card () and thus has a Personal Number () which consists of 8 digits followed by a check digit (Total: 9 digits). In general, it has the following format: YYMMNNNNC, where YYMM is the year and month of birth, NNNN is a random number, C is the check digit. However, a minority of citizens and residents have Personal Numbers that do not follow that format.


title: National identification number

text: It is possible to obtain a Distinctive Personal Number (), only for newborn infants and it is optional and not compulsory, for a fee (US$130, 200, or 260 depending on the category).


title: National identification number

text: Another local name for the Personal number is Central Population Registration (CPR) Number () which was used before the inception of the Central Informatics Organization (CIO) ().


title: National identification number

text: In Bangladesh the National Identity card is issued by National Identity Registration Wing of the Election Commission. The National Identity card or NID card is a compulsory identity document issued to every Bangladeshi citizen upon turning 18 years of age. The NID is a government issued photo ID just like the Bangladeshi Driver's licence, which is also a biometric, microchip embedded, smart identity card. The NID is required by Bangladeshi citizens for multiple essential public services, such as obtaining utility connections, as well as private services, such as opening bank accounts, in Bangladesh. Initially paper based laminated NID cards were issued since 2006. Then the paper based laminated NID cards were replaced by biometric and microchip embedded Smart NID cards for all adult citizens in Bangladesh from 2016 onwards. The Smart NID card contains the card holder's ID number. The government provides the Smart NID card free of charge to all adult citizens of Bangladesh.


title: National identification number

text: In China, an ID card is mandatory for all citizens who are over 16 years old (Except for overseas citizens without registered residence in the country). The ID number has 18 digits and is in the format RRRRRRYYYYMMDDSSSC, which is the sole and exclusive identification code for the holder (an old ID card only has 15 digits in the format RRRRRRYYMMDDIII). RRRRRR is a standard code for the administrative division where the holder is born (county or a district of a city), YYYYMMDD is the birth date of the holder, and SSS is a sequential code for distinguishing people with identical birthdates and birthplaces. The sequential code is odd for males and even for females. The final character, C, is a checksum value over the first 17 digits. To calculate the checksum, each digit in order is multiplied by a weight in the ordered set [7 9 10 5 8 4 2 1 6 3 7 9 10 5 8 4 2] and summed together. The sum modulus 11 is used as an index into the ordered set [1 0 X 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2], with the first index being zero. The indexed value is the checksum digit. In 15 digit IDs, III is an identification number created through certain mathematical methods (the last digit might be an English letter, such as X). The ID card is used for residential registration, army enrollment registration, registration of marriage/divorce, going abroad, taking part in national exams, and other social or civil matters.


title: National identification number

text: In Hong Kong, a Hong Kong Identity Card (HKID) is mandatory for all residents aged over 11, subject to limited exceptions. HKID cards contain the bearer's HKID number, of which the standard format is X123456(A). X represents one or two letters of the alphabet. The numerals may represent any Arabic number. A is the check digit, which has 11 possible values from 0 to 9 and A. The letters and numbers are not assigned arbitrarily. Additionally, one can view the international securities identification numbers organization that helps assign ISIN codes to securities.


title: National identification number

text: On 28 January 2009, the Indian Government established an Authority called the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to issue a "Unique Identification Number" to all residents of India. It is the biggest biometric ID programme in the world due to the large population of India. UIDAI's Aadhaar card project gives each eligible Indian resident a unique 12 digit identification number, along with recording their biometrics such as iris scan and fingerprints on a UIDAI database and the card is being rolled out to all such residents. Though contrary to popular belief Aadhaar is not a proof for citizenship. The first Aadhaar number was launched in Maharashtra in the village of Tembhli, on 29 September 2010. So far up to August 2018, 1.19 billion Aadhaar Numbers have been issued. In October 2015, 93 percent of adult Indians have an Aadhaar card. In the year 2020, UIDAI introduced a PVC Aadhar Card with additional security features such as holograms, micro text, ghost images, guilloché Patterns, invisible logos etc. Albeit, the UIDAI has clarified that Aadhar, in all forms, viz. the Aadhar letter, downloaded Aadhar letter, PVC Card, Aadhar printed on paper or plastic cards or in any other approved mode shall have an equal acceptance and validity throughout India for all purposes, including identification.


title: National identification number

text: Before Aadhaar, the closest India has come to this is the Permanent account number (PAN), issued by the Income Tax Office, for purposes of tracking income and income taxes. It has gained use as a means of identification for activities like getting a phone connection. A total of 24.37 crore (243.7 million) PANs have been allotted as of 24 February 2016.


title: National identification number

text: In Indonesia, each citizen is issued a unique 16 digit number known as a "Nomor Induk Kependudukan". The number is given to all Indonesian citizens. The format is PPRRSSDDMMYYXXXX where PP is a two digit province code, RR is a two digit regency or city code, SS is a two digit sub-district code, DDMMYY is the date of birth (DD is added by 40 for females), and XXXX is a four digit randomized number. The number is stated on the Indonesian identity card.


title: National identification number

text: Since 2012, the government rolled out the e-KTP ("Elektronik Kartu Tanda Penduduk", "Electronic Citizen ID Card") which is an RFID card containing encrypted information of a citizen's electronic signature, scans of a citizen's irises and ten fingerprints, and a high-resolution photograph.


title: National identification number

text: All Iranian citizens aged 15 or older are required to apply for an Iranian national identity card (کارت ملی/kart-e-meli). The card includes the holder's 10-digit National Identification Number, formatted as follows: XXX-XXXXXX-X.


title: National identification number

text: Every Iraqi citizen must have a Nationality Certificate (شهادة الجنسية) and a civil Identification Document (هوية الأحوال المدنية). In 2016, both documents were replaced with National Card (البطاقة الوطنية), a biometric ID card.


title: National identification number

text: An "Identity Number" () is issued to all Israeli citizens at birth by the Ministry of the Interior. It is composed of nine digits: a one-digit prefix, seven digits, and a final check digit. Blocks of numbers are distributed to hospitals, and individual numbers are issued to babies upon discharge from hospital. Temporary residents (category A-5) are assigned a number when they receive temporary resident status.


title: National identification number

text: An Identity Card, (Hebrew: "Teudat Zehut"), bearing an Identity Number, is issued to all residents over 16 years old who have legal temporary or permanent residence status, including non-citizens.


title: National identification number

text: Japan's national identification number system, known within the country as "My Number" (), went into effect from 2016. The number consists of 12 digits, and one is assigned to each resident of Japan, including non-Japanese long-term residents with valid residency permits.


title: National identification number

text: In Kazakhstan there is a 12-digit Individual Identification Number for natural persons (abbreviated in , "ZhSN"; in , "IIN", with first six digits representing person's date of birth in the YYMMDD format) and a 12-digit Business Identification Number for legal entities (companies).


title: National identification number

text: Until its abolishment on 1 January 2013, the 12-digit Taxpayer's Registration Number (; , usually abbreviated as РНН, "RNN") was more popular in dealings with authorities as well as with businesses.


title: National identification number

text: In Kuwait, the 12-digit national identification number is the Civil Number (). It follows the format NYYMMDDNNNNN and is issued and put on the Civil ID and managed by the Public Agency for Civil Information (PACI) .


title: National identification number

text: The Civil ID contains the holder's name in Arabic and English, a photo, gender, date of birth, current address, and a digital memory.


title: National identification number

text: The Civil Number is issued for citizens and residents, and it is used for tasks such as opening a bank account, getting free medical care, or even taking some tests like the IELTS exam. Passports can be used instead for those who don't have Civil IDs, such as tourists.


title: National identification number

text: In Macau, there are two types of ID cards: Permanent Resident Identity Card (BIRP) and Non-Permanent Resident Identity Card (BIRNP). The identification number has 8-digit standard format: NNNNNNN(N), where N is a numeric digit 0–9. The first numeric digit N has special meaning, and it can be one of the following digits: '1', '5' or '7'.


title: National identification number

text: During Portuguese rule, Macau had no unified identification system, and several departments had the authority to issue identity cards to Macau citizens and residents. Since 1992, the Identification Department (once known as SIM, now called DSI) has become the unitary authority to issue identity cards. It has adopted the above-mentioned numbering policy.


title: National identification number

text: Macau's Finance Department has also adopted identification number as a tax reporting number, for tax filing purposes.


title: National identification number

text: In Malaysia, a 12-digit number (format: YYMMDD-SS-###G, since 1991) known as the National Registration Identification Card Number (NRIC No.) is issued to citizens and permanent residents on a MyKad. Prior to January 1, 2004, a separate social security ("SOCSO") number (also the old IC number in format 'S#########', S denotes state of birth or country of origin (alphabet or number), # is a 9-digit serial number) was used for social security-related affairs.


title: National identification number

text: The first group of numbers (YYMMDD) are the date of birth. The second group of numbers (SS) represents the place of birth of the holder - the states (01-13), the federal territories (14-16) or the country of origin (60-85). The last group of numbers (###G) is a serial number in an unidentified pattern which is randomly generated. The last digit (G) is an odd number for a male, while an even number is given for a female.


title: National identification number

text: Nepal is soon introducing National Identification Card. It is a Bio-metric smart card which will hold all the important details of an individual. A department level central body under the Ministry of Home Affairs named National ID Management Center has been established on 2011-07-17 AD, pursuant to the decision of 2010-06-30 AD of Nepal Government.


title: National identification number

text: After the independence of Pakistan, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan launched the Personal Identity System (PIS) program to issue national identification cards to the citizens of Pakistan and Muslim refugees settling in Pakistan. Since the 1960s, Pakistan has been issuing National Identity Card (commonly known by the acronym, NIC) numbers to its citizens. These numbers are assigned at birth when the parents complete the child's birth registration form (B-Form), and then a National Identity Card (NIC) with the same number is issued at the age of 18. Until, 2001 NIC numbers were 11 digits long. In 2001–2002, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), started issuing 13-digit NIC numbers along with their new biometric ID cards. The first 5 digits are based on the applicant's locality, the next 7 are serial numbers, and the last digit is a check digit. The last digit also indicates the gender of the applicant; an even number indicates a female and an odd number indicates a male. The old numbers are invalid as of 2004.


title: National identification number

text: As of 2012, NADRA has started to issue SMART ID cards which include an encrypted chip. The SMART card plan is to be extended to disburse social benefits as well as to allow the heirs of the card to get life insurance at the death of the card holder. This also allow citizens verify their card status through Citizen Verification Service offered by NADRA which enable citizens to verify their own status in NADRA database.


title: National identification number

text: Every citizen has an NIC number for activities such as registering as a voter, voting in the general elections, paying taxes, opening a bank account, getting a utility connection (phone, cell phone, gas, electricity) purchasing or renting property, completing secondary education, acquiring higher education or applying for a job in most cases. However, since a majority of births in the country are not registered, and a large number of Pakistanis do not conduct any of the activities described above, most do not have ID cards. Obtaining an NIC card costs 100 rupees (US$1.66 - almost the average daily income), and this reduces the number of people who can afford it. In 2006, NADRA announced that it had issued 50 million CNIC (the C standing for Computerized) numbers, which is approximately one-third of the population. In June 2008, the federal government announced it would start issuing CNIC cards for free.


title: National identification number

text: In addition to NIC/CNIC companies and individuals in business and employment with taxable income are required to register with Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and have their National Tax Number (commonly known as NTN). The tax number is mainly used only for taxation purposes and is rarely used otherwise as compared to other countries. New NTN certificates are being issued with computerized NIC numbers and old NTN certificates bearing old NIC numbers will become invalid.


title: National identification number

text: Filipino citizens as well as resident aliens will be eligible to obtain a PhilSys ID. PhilSys ID card will be issued to all Filipino citizens and foreign residents aged 18 and above.


title: National identification number

text: The PhilSys ID will store 13 sets of information. The identification document shall display the assigned PhilSys number (PSN), full name, sex, blood type, birth date, birthplace, marital status(optional), and photograph of the bearer. It will also store the bearer's mobile number(optional), email address(optional), and biometrics data (full fingerprints set and iris scan) in the PhilSys Registry.


title: National identification number

text: In Singapore the National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) is issued to Singapore citizens and permanent residents. Permanent residents (PR) are issued with NRIC number similar to citizens.


title: National identification number

text: The NRIC contains a unique number that identifies the person holding it, and is used for almost all identification purposes in Singapore, including authentication when accessing the Singapore government's web portal. Citizens and permanent residents are issued with identity number starts with prefix S (born before 2000) and T (born in or after year 2000), followed with a 7-digit number and a checksum alphabet. For citizens and permanent residents born after 1968, the first two digits of the 7-digit number indicate their birth year.


title: National identification number

text: Long-term pass holders (e.g. people holding work permits, employment passes or student passes) are issued a similarly formatted Foreign Identification Number (FIN) on their long-term passes, with prefix F (registered before year 2000) and G (registered in or after year 2000).


title: National identification number

text: In South Korea, every Korean resident is assigned a Resident's Registration Number (주민등록번호), which has the form 000000–0000000. The first six digits is their birthday in the format YYMMDD. The first digit of the last seven digits is determined by the century of birth and the gender as follows:


title: National identification number

text: The next four digits mean the region of his/her birth registration, and the next 1 digit is a serial number of registration within the date and the region. The last digit is a check digit.


title: National identification number

text: NICs issued before 1 January 2016, each NIC has a unique 9 digit number and one letter, in the format 000000000A (where 0 is a digit and A is a letter). The first two digits of the number are the holder's year of birth (e.g.: 91xxxxxxxx for someone born in 1991). The next three digits contain the number of days in the year of the person's birth. For females, 500 is added to the number of days. The next three digits are serial number of the issued day. The next digit is the check digit. The final letter is generally a 'V' which indicates that the holder is eligible to vote in the area. In some cases the final letter can be 'X' which usually indicates the holder is not eligible to vote; possibly because they were not permanent residents of Sri Lanka when applying for an NIC.


title: National identification number

text: From 1 January 2016, each new NIC has a unique 12 digit number. The first four digits of the number are the holder's year of birth (e.g.: 197419202757 for someone born in 1974). The next three digits contain the number of days in the year of the person's birth. For females, 500 is added to the number of days. The next four digits are the serial number. The last digit is the check digit.


title: National identification number

text: In Taiwan, an ID card is mandatory for all citizens who are over 14 years old. Every citizen has a unique ID number. The ID card has been uniformly numbered since 1965. A valid National Identification number consists of one letter and nine-digits, in the format A########C. The letter ("A") records the card holder's first location of household registration, which is usually where they were born. The first digit depends on gender; 1 for male, 2 for female. The last digit ("C") is a checksum. Thus the total number of IDs is 208,000,000.


title: National identification number

text: In Thailand, the Population Identification Code has been issued by the Department of Provincial Administration of the Ministry of Interior since 1976. It consists of a 13-digit string in the format N-NNNN-NNNNN-NN-N, which is assigned at birth or upon receiving citizenship. The first digit signifies type of citizenship, the second to fifth the office where the number was issued, the sixth to twelfth are group and sequence numbers, and the last digit acts as a check digit.


title: National identification number

text: The Emirates Identity Authority () issues an Identity Card () to each citizen and resident. The cardholder's name, nationality, gender and date of birth are printed on the card. The card also bears a unique 15-digit Identification Number (), which is used for identity verification by the government and some private entities. Inside the card is an electronic chip which contains personal and biometric data about the cardholder.


title: National identification number

text: The Identification Number has the following format: 784-YYYY-NNNNNNN-C, where 784 is the ISO 3166-1 numeric code for the UAE, YYYY is the year of birth, NNNNNNN is a random 7-digit number, and C is a check digit.


title: National identification number

text: In Vietnam, a Vietnam ID card (), is issued for Vietnamese citizens by the Provincial Police Department. The ID card number is a combination of 12 digits. Starting on January 1, 2020, Vietnam will issue encrypted e-ID Card.


title: National identification number

text: In Albania, the Identity Number ( (NID)) is issued by the Central Civic Registry Service (Ministry of Interior). The coding structure and algorithm is regulated by a decision of the Council of Ministers of Albania (No.827, Dated 11.12.2003). From 2004 to 2007, the Identity Number was referred to as the Citizen Identity Number ( (NISH)). As of 2007, with the introduction the new legislation regarding the new biometric ID cards and biometric passports, it is referred to as the Identity Number. The Albanian national identification number appears in the Albanian national ID cards and biometric passports under the 'personal no.' section.


title: National identification number

text: The Albanian Identity Number is a unique personal identification number of 10 characters in the format YYMMDDSSSC, where YYMMDD indicates the date of birth and sex (for males MM is 01–12, for females 50 is added to the month of birth so that MM is 51–62), SSS is a sequence number of persons born on the same date (001–999), and C is a checksum letter (A–W). The YY part of the date of birth is calculated from the following table:


title: National identification number

text: The Sector-Specific Personal Identifier (ssPIN) tries to do away with the problems of the SSN. Its legal foundation is the Austrian E-Government Act, and it is derived from the Central Register of Residents (CRR). Its specification is related with the Austrian Citizen Card.


title: National identification number

text: Its computation (specification) is a two-stage process: The CCR ID is encoded into the Source Identification Number (Source PIN) with a symmetrical crypto-function. This is again one-way encoded into the ssPIN per sector of governmental activity. For the storage of SourcePINs is not limited to citizen cards, and an application cannot convert a ssPIN from one sector to the ssPIN from applications of other sectors, the link-up of data of sectors by PINs is constricted. However, there is a legal exception to this rule: applications may query for and store ssPINs from other sectors if they are encrypted in a way that makes them only usable in the target application. This enables the application to communicate across sectors.


title: National identification number

text: In Belgium every citizen has a National Register Number, which is created by using the citizen's date of birth (encoded in six digits), followed by a serial number (three digits) and a checksum (two digits). The serial number is used so that men get the odd numbers, while women get the even numbers; thus, there can be only 500 men or women on each day.


title: National identification number

text: The national number is unique to each person and in that capacity used by most government institutions; however, because one can immediately read the date of birth and the sex of the numbers' holder and because it is the key in most government databases (including that of the tax administration, the social security, and others), it is considered a privacy-sensitive number. For that reason, although it is put on the identity card by default, with the old ID cards a citizen could request that this would not be done. With the newer Digital ID cards that Belgium is rolling out, this is no longer possible, since the National Number is used as the serial number for the private cryptography keys on the card.


title: National identification number

text: Each citizen receives 13 number "Unique Master Citizen Number" () upon birth (from 2001 official name is "Unique Master Number" but the acronym "JMBG" is still in use). Unique Master Citizen Number comprises 13 digits in DDMMYYY RR XXX C format. DD/MM/YYY represents citizens birth date. RR indicates one of 10 Bosnian regions (10: Banja Luka, 11: Bihać, 12: Doboj, 13: Goražde, 14: Livno, 15: Mostar, 16: Prijedor, 17: Sarajevo, 18: Tuzla, 19: Zenica) where the citizen was born. XXX is a unique sequential number where 000 - 499 is used for males and 500 - 999 for females. The final number is a check-sum.


title: National identification number

text: Foreign citizens born or residing in Bosnia & Herzegovina can also receive a Unique Master Citizen Number (UMCN). The RR sequence foreign nationals is 01. Upon gaining Bosnian citizenship, a former foreign national can request new UMCN where the RR part is represented by the region where they were first registered.


title: National identification number

text: Every citizen or permanent resident of Bulgaria has a unique 10-digit "Uniform Civil Number" (, usually abbreviated as ЕГН, "EGN"), generated from the person's date of birth (encoded in six digits in the form YYMMDD), followed by a three-digit serial number and a single-digit checksum. The last digit of serial number indicates gender: odd numbers are used for females and even numbers for males.


title: National identification number

text: For persons born prior to 1900, the month identifier (third and fourth digits) is increased by 20 (e.g. 952324XXXX denotes a person born on 24 March 1895). Similarly, 40 is added to denote that a person was born after 1999 (e.g. 054907XXXX denotes a person born on 7 September 2005).


title: National identification number

text: EGNs were introduced in 1977 and are used in virtually all dealings with public service agencies, and often with private businesses. EGNs are also printed on Bulgarian identity cards and passports, under the heading "ЕГН/Personal number".


title: National identification number

text: In Croatia, the Personal Identification Number ( (OIB)), is used for identifying the citizens and legal persons in many government and civilian systems. The OIB-system was introduced on January 1, 2009, and replaced the old JMBG system, renamed to "Master Citizen Number" (Croatian: Matični broj građana (MBG)) in 2002, that was used in former Yugoslavia. The OIB consists of eleven digits; ten random digits and one control digit.


title: National identification number

text: Czech Republic and Slovakia uses a system called Birth Number (Czech/Slovak: rodné číslo (RČ)). The system was introduced in the former Czechoslovakia.


title: National identification number

text: The form is YYXXDD/SSSC, where XX=MM (month of birth) for male (numbers 01–12) and XX=MM+50 for female (numbers 51–62), SSS is a serial number separating persons born on the same date and C is a check digit, but for people born before 1 January 1954 the form is without the check digit - YYXXDD/SSS. This enables the system to work until the year 2054. The whole number must be divisible by 11.


title: National identification number

text: The system is raising privacy concerns, since the age and the sex of the bearer can be decoded from the number. Therefore, the birth number is considered a sensitive piece of personal information.


title: National identification number

text: In a law that took place in the year 2004, a failsafe system has been implemented, where in case all valid serial numbers get depleted for a day, the number 20 gets added to the value of XX. This means that XX can get up to 32 for males, and 82 for females.


title: National identification number

text: A Personal Identification Number (Da. "CPR, Det Centrale Personregister") in Denmark is used in dealings with public agencies, from health care to the tax authorities. It is also used as a customer number in banks and insurance companies. People must be registered with a CPR number if they reside in Denmark, if they own property or if they pay tax.


title: National identification number

text: In Denmark, there has been a systematic registration since 1924, however it was in 1968 that the electronic CPR register was established.


title: National identification number

text: In the 1980s, the electronic system was exported to Kuwait, Jamaica, Malaysia, Thailand, Romania, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, and Saint Petersburg.


title: National identification number

text: The CPR number is a ten-digit number with the format DDMMYY-SSSS, where DDMMYY is the date of birth and SSSS is a sequence number. The first digit of the sequence number encodes the century of birth (so that centenarians are distinguished from infants, 0–4 in odd centuries, 5–9 in even centuries), and the last digit of the sequence number is odd for males and even for females.


title: National identification number

text: Prior to 2007, the last digit was also a check digit such that less than 240 SSSS values were available for any given combination of gender and date of birth, but due to an administrative practice of assigning Jan 1 and similar dates for immigrants with unknown date of birth, any SSSS value consistent with gender and century of birth may now be issued, even for birth dates prior to 2007.


title: National identification number

text: Companies and other taxable non-humans are issued an eight-digit "CVR" number which is a mostly sequential number, there is no defined rule preventing the issuance of a CVR number with the same digits as a CPR number of an unrelated person, so the type of number must always be indicated, but CPR are always 10-digit and CVR 8-digit. VAT registration numbers for Danish companies are simply "DK" followed by the CVR number, but far from all CVR numbered entities are VAT registered (companies with no need for a VAT number, such as holding companies, typically do not request a VAT registration for their CVR).


title: National identification number

text: Government entities are numbered in a variety of ways, but since 2003 all government entities (however small) now have EAN numbers for billing purposes. Some Government entities also have CVR numbers. Only one Government Entity (the Queen) has a CPR number.


title: National identification number

text: The CPR number gives government agencies access to state-controlled databases with information about the person. The information includes: The person's marital status and spouse, parents, children, current and former addresses, the cars the person has owned, the criminal record and other information about the person.


title: National identification number

text: Foreigners who are not eligible to get a CPR-number, but who need one, includes persons who have witnessed a crime, persons who have been charged with a crime, or are victims of a crime. These persons are registered with a CPR-number with the format: DDMMYY-XXXX where XXXX are four letters instead of four numbers.


title: National identification number

text: In Estonia, a "Personal Identification Code" () is defined as a number formed on the basis of the sex and date of birth of a person which allows the identification of the person and used by government and other systems where identification is required, as well as by digital signatures using the nation ID-card and its associated certificates. An Estonian Personal identification code consists of 11 digits, generally given without any whitespace or other delimiters. The form is GYYMMDDSSSC, where G shows the person's sex and century of birth (odd number male, even number female, 1-2 19th century, 3-4 20th century, 5-6 21st century), YYMMDD is the person's date of birth, SSS is a serial number separating persons born on the same date, and C is a checksum.


title: National identification number

text: Within the European Economic Area and Switzerland, a card known as the European Health Insurance Card is issued to any resident who so wishes, proving the right of health care anywhere in the area. This card lists a code called "Identification Number", which in some cases may be the national identification number of the residence country, for Germany the health insurance number.


title: National identification number

text: In Finland, the "Personal Identity Code" ( (abbreviated as "HETU"), ), also known as "Personal Identification Number", was introduced in 1964 and it is used for identifying the citizens in government and many corporate and other transactions. It consists of eleven characters of the form codice_1, where codice_2 is the day, month and year of birth, codice_3 the century sign, codice_4 the individual number and codice_5 the control character (checksum). The sign for the century is either codice_6 (1800–1899); codice_7(1900–1999); or codice_8 (2000–2099). The individual number codice_4 distinguishes persons with the same date of birth from each other and it is odd for males and even for females and for people born in Finland or permanent residents its range is 002–899. Numbers 900–999 are used for temporary personal identification, for example in hospitals, when an official ID is not known or has not yet been given to a child born. Temporary IDs are not logged in the Finnish Population Information System.


title: National identification number

text: An example of a valid code for a fictional female born on 13 October 1952 is codice_10. The control character, either a number or a letter, is determined by the remainder of codice_11 divided by 31, i.e. by dropping the century sign and calculating the resulting nine-digit number mod 31. The corresponding character is then picked from the string "0123456789ABCDEFHJKLMNPRSTUVWXY" (ambiguous letters G, I, O, Q, and Z are not used). For remainders below ten, the remainder itself is the control character whereas 10 corresponds to A, 11=B, 12=C, ending up with 30=Y. In this example, 131052308 mod 31 = 25 = T.


title: National identification number

text: A Personal Identity Code is given to every Finnish citizen born in Finland. Foreign citizens whose residence in Finland is permanent or exceeds one year are also issued a personal identity code by law. The Personal Identity Code is a means to distinguish between individuals having the same name. It can be found in some public documents (such as the deed of purchase of real estate). Therefore, knowing the code should not be used as a proof of identity, although this sometimes happens in the commercial sector. Employers need the personal identity code to report payment of wages to Finnish Tax Administration, the pension funds, etc.


title: National identification number

text: During 1964–1970 the personal identity code was known as "sosiaaliturvatunnus" (SOTU, Social Security number). The term is still widely in use unofficially (and incorrectly).


title: National identification number

text: In France, the INSEE code is used as a social insurance number, a national identification number, for taxation purposes, for employment, etc. It was invented under the Vichy regime.


title: National identification number

text: In Georgia personal number is 9 digits and may contain leading zero. It is assigned to citizens at birth and to residents on demand. Personal number is used for identification in all government and many commercial institutions. Personal number is also reused as taxpayer identification number for Individual entrepreneurs. For citizens first few digits apparently represent place of birth, but format is not public.


title: National identification number

text: In Germany, there is no national identification number in the full meaning of the term. Until 2007 only decentralized databases were kept by social insurance companies, who allocate a social insurance number to almost every person.


title: National identification number

text: Since 2008 new Taxpayer Identification Numbers ( or "Steuer-IdNr") replace the former Tax File Number. Persons who are both employees and self-employed at the same time may receive two taxpayer identification numbers. The corresponding number for organizations, also issued by the tax administration, is named economy identification number ("Wirtschafts-Identifikationsnummer"). These numbering concepts are national systems, organized by the Federal Central Tax Office. For special purpose further value-added tax identification numbers are issued for persons and organizations that are subject to paying VAT as a deduct from their revenues. This is a Europe-wide unified concept. Additionally for all persons joining the military service, a Service Number is issued.


title: National identification number

text: None of these numbers are commonly used for other than their specific purpose, nor is such (ab)use legal. German identity documents do not contain any of the mentioned numbers, only a document number. People are not expected to know their number when dealing with an authority.


title: National identification number

text: For some time, the West German government intended to create a 12-digit personal identification number ("Personenkennzeichen, PKZ") for all citizens, registered alien residents on its territory, as well as for all non-resident Nazi victims entitled to compensation payments. The system, which was to be implemented by the 1973 federal law on civil registry, was rejected in 1976, when the Bundestag found the concept of an identification system for the entire population to be incompatible with the existing legal framework.


title: National identification number

text: In East Germany, a similar system named "Personenkennzahl" (PKZ) was set up in 1970 and remained in use until the state ceased to exist in 1990.


title: National identification number

text: As Germany is part of the Visa Waiver Program German citizens can enter the US for up to 90 days without the need of a visa. In order to participate in this program it is required to fill out an online form called ESTA. This form specifically asks German citizens about a national identification number. Since German citizens do not always have a national identification number, Germans aren't expected to fill in a number here, but they can fill in UNKNOWN instead.


title: National identification number

text: The ID card number is not unique and changes if the person gets a new identity card. The tax identity number is unique for every citizen and company. Social security number is also unique.


title: National identification number

text: In 2022 Personal Number (Προσωπικός Αριθμός) to be introduced, which will be based on the existing Tax Identity Number and will replace all existing identification numbers. It will be unique and will formatted as XXX-999999999. It has 3 alphanumeric characters + 9 digits.


title: National identification number

text: In Hungary, there is no national identification number. The Constitutional Court decided in 1991: "A general, uniform personal identification code which may be used without restriction (i.e. a personal number) distributed to every citizen and to every resident of the country based on an identical principle is unconstitutional."


title: National identification number

text: Although the universal use of national identification number (known as "Personal Identification Number") is considered to be unconstitutional, it is still used in many places. The structure of such number is GYYMMDDXXXC, whereas G is the gender (but also indicates century of birth, and, in some cases, citizenship), YYMMDD is the birth date year, month, day, XXX is the serial number, and C is a checksum digit.


title: National identification number

text: As the "Personal Identification Number" is considered to be unconstitutional, another identification form, the ID card number is in use.


title: National identification number

text: Thus an average Hungarian has these identifiers: personal identification number, ID card identification number, social security number ("TAJ" number), tax identification number. They may also have a passport identification number, a driving license number and a tax number – the latter is mandatory for business owners only, and is different from tax identification number which is mandatory for every citizen.


title: National identification number

text: All Icelanders, as well as foreign citizens residing in Iceland and corporations and institutions, have an Icelandic identification number (""kennitala"") identifying them in the national register. The number is composed of 10 digits, of which the first six are the individual's birth date or corporation's founding date in the format DDMMYY. The next two digits are chosen at random when the identification number is allocated, the ninth digit is a check digit, and the last digit indicates the century in which the individual was born (for instance, '9' for the period 1900–1999, or '0' for the period 2000–2099). An example would be 120174–3399, the person being born on the twelfth day of January 1974. The Icelandic system is similar to that in other Scandinavian and European countries, but the use of the identification number is unusually open and extensive in Iceland. Businesses and universities use the identification number as a customer or student identifier, and all banking transactions include it. Registers Iceland is the government agency that oversees the system. A database matching names to numbers is freely accessible (after login) on all Icelandic online banking sites. Given this openness, the identification number is never used as an authenticator. It is worth noting that the completeness of the national register eliminates any need for Iceland to take censuses.