MONTREAL (CP) -- The International Civil Aviation Organization expects that machine readable passports will be universally issued by 2010, as a way to speed air passenger flows and reduce terrorism.

Of the 110 states that already have such passports, more than 40 plan to upgrade by the end of 2006 to a biometrically enabled version that identifies passport holders by their unique faces.

Canada, which has had machine-readable passports for many years, will start to issue biometric or electronic passports by next summer or fall, a spokeswoman for Passport Canada said Thursday.

Therese Boisclair, attending a two-day symposium on the subject at ICAO headquarters in Montreal, said the first biometric passports would be issued on a trial basis to frequent fliers.

Biometric or e-passports contain a chip with a photo of the holder. A device at an airport or border crossing would scan the passport to ensure the photo is the same as the one in a central data base, to confirm in seconds that it is the same person.

''We're going to go with selected participants, people who travel a lot, to see if it works,'' explained Boisclair.

''The basic question is how many countries will have the reader machine, and that becomes an issue. When countries have the reader we'll be able to evaluate how it works.''