Canada post and Gemplus report success for launch of electronic postmark™ services to canadian market

San Francisco, Calif., RSA Security 2003, 14th April 2003 - Canada Post and Gemplus (NASDAQ:GEMP), the world’s leading provider of smart card solutions, today announced the successful launch of their e-business trust services solutions featuring Canada Post’s Electronic PostMark™ (EPM™). The EPM™, which was officially introduced in June of last year, provides government and enterprise clients with advanced non-repudiation services, which include date and time stamping of electronic messages, digital signature, content security, and third party archiving and retrieval services for evidentiary usage.

Built on Gemplus’ GemSAFE server software and based on the standards being drafted by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the EPM™ utilizes an open architecture that can process certifications issued by numerous CA (Certificate Authority) vendors. This robust platform, in conjunction with Canada Post’s position as a trusted third party provider of mail and messaging services, will deliver a best in class solution for global digital trust services.

The EPM™ has already been incorporated in a large online change of address application in Canada. EPM™, in conjunction with other e-security services, provides material benefit for companies to move paper-based transactions to the Internet, enabling cost savings, process improvement, and better control and capture of important business transactions.

“It is with great satisfaction we announce that our EPM™ partnership with Canada Post has proven to be a success, enabling us to offer unrivaled Internet security benefits to the entire Canadian population,” said David Ludin, vice president of Financial and Security Services for Gemplus in North America. “This pioneering e-Government initiative is perfectly aligned with the current trend for stronger means of digital identification, and one that also allows for future migration towards a high-security smart card-based system.”

“By introducing services like EPM™, Canada Post and Gemplus will facilitate the expansion of e-business by removing the final hurdle hindering online transactions – lack of trust,” said Peter Melanson, vice president – eBusiness, Canada Post Corporation. “This partnership with Gemplus is our first step in providing global non-repudiation services to Posts, governments, and enterprise clients.”


About Gemplus
Gemplus (Euronext Paris SA: GEPL.PA; Sicovam: 005768; NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's number one provider of smart card solutions.

Gemplus helps its clients offer an exceptional range of portable, personalised solutions that bring security and convenience to people's lives. These include mobile data services, inter-operable banking, identity, WLAN, m-commerce and a wealth of other applications. Gemplus is the only completely dedicated, truly global player in the Smart Card industry, with the largest R&D team, unrivalled experience, and an outstanding track record of technological innovation.

In 2001, Gemplus was the worldwide smart card leader in both revenue and total smart card shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest, Frost & Sullivan). Gemplus was also awarded Frost & Sullivan's 2002 Market Value Leadership Award for its exceptional performance.

Gemplus' revenue in 2002 was 787 million Euros. It employs 5700 people in 37 countries throughout the world.

www.gemplus.com

About Canada Post
Canada Post delivers 37 million pieces of mail each day to over 31 million Canadians at some 13 million addresses and nearly 1 million Canadian businesses from coast to coast to coast. Incorporated in 1981, its more than 56,000 people and 7,000 postal outlets, the largest retail network in Canada, are a trusted presence in communities across the country, as they have been for more than 150 years. In addition to Canada Post, The Canada Post Group includes Canada Post International Limited, Purolator Courier Ltd., Progistix-Solutions Inc., Intelcom Courier Canada Inc., epost (jointly owned by Canada Post, the Bank of Montreal and TELUS Corp.) and Innovapost (jointly owned by Canada Post and CGI). Canada Post is a world leader, providing innovative physical and electronic delivery solutions, creating value for its customers and new ways to communicate that are bold, innovative and effective. It connects Canadians from anywhere... to anyone. Website: www.canadapost.ca.

For Gemplus
Carl Norell
Gemplus
Tel: +1 (215) 390-2899
Email: carl.norell@gemplus.com

Michelle Cox
Edelman Public Relations
Tel: +1 (323) 202-1035
Email: michelle.cox@edelman.com

For Canada Post
John Caines
National Media Relations
Tel: (613) 734-7675
Email: john.caines@canadapost.ca

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