Comment:
I noticed what looked like a small silver square on my little passport label but it was too small for me to see with the naked eye, well mine anyway. I took a photo of the label with my super digital camera and then enlarged the image. It revealed what looked like a small printed electronic circuit which looked a bit odd... Was this something to do with Big Brother ?, was it an RFID tag ?
After zooming in even closer on my passport label revealed the word Tagsys although it was written as though it should be detected through the front of the passport label. I was off to Google to find out what Tagsys meant.
It turns out that Tagsys are a company Called Tagsys RFID who make Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) tags and readers.
Response:
I would suggest that the reason your UK passport has this 'please remove this label' is that the passport is electronically tracked during it's production and, possibly, transportation.
So there you go, the next time someone mentions their new UK passport and that little sticker that says 'Please remove this label' then you can tell them.
[ akwatts.co.uk/please-remove-this-label-uk-passport/ no longer exists ]
http://travel.stackexchange.com/questions/51679/what-is-the-purpose-of-the-odd-sticker-in-a-new-british-passport
Response:
They use it to track its progress through the system - production, checking, shipping etc. Every barcode represents a unique code or number that identifies your passport.
Each section scans it in and out so its whereabouts are always known. These days barcode tracking systems are very, very common in many areas of manufacturing.
Response:
[It] doesn't appear that there's a consequence to not removing the sticker - recent trips to france with 'please remove sticker' stickers in place and not a hint of a frown from the checking peeps.
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1475516
