As a result of Croatia's full membership in the European Union, the existing ID-1 size alien identity cards and ID-2 size residence approval certificates were replaced by electronic ID-1 size residence permits. The electronic European residence permit is a standardized document for all EU Member States, defined by the European Commission Regulations Nos. 1030/2002 and 380/2008. This means that its fields, design, security features and Kinegram® are equal for all residence permits issued by EU Member States to aliens residing in the territory of the Union. The electronic component of this document is actually identical to that of the electronic passport and shares the ICAO 9303 logical data structure within a contactless chip.
The document itself features a number of safeguards against unauthorized access, which can be classified into three principal groups:
- basic access control;
- passive authentication;
- extended access control (chip authentication and terminal authentication).