Abstract: The present invention particularly provides an identification card and an access system for its use. The identification card has recorded thereon visually-readable bearer information and encoded machine-readable data. The encoded machine-readable data includes encoded data representative of a personal identifier of the bearer and encoded data representative of at least one event or transaction. When used in the access system, the identification card is scanned by an information processing apparatus. When the bearer of the identification card presents a personal identifier to the information processing apparatus, the presented personal identifier is analyzed and compared with the encoded personal identifier data. If there is an acceptable correlation between the presented personal information and the encoded personal identifier data, and if there is a determination that access would not exceed a predetermined number of permissible occurrences, access is effected.