The Essen Group is an informal, cross-national working group being engaged in electronic passports in Europe. It was founded in the beginning of 2004 and consists of members of government and industry from the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany. The Essen Group consults international standardisation and government organisations and masterminded the design of the ePassport-API as well as the Golden Reader Tool (a reading-software for electronic IDs). Already today, these two developments are regarded as quasi-standards for pass producers and readers.