diff --git a/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle.h b/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle.h
index d2c93f4ff6d..2395097dc4a 100644
--- a/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle.h
+++ b/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle.h
@@ -43,6 +43,9 @@ class Rep
 class Handle
 {
   public:
+    
+    typedef std::ptrdiff_t Id_type ;
+    
     Handle()
 	: PTR(static_cast<Rep*>(0)) {}
 
@@ -73,22 +76,17 @@ class Handle
     int
     refs()  const { return PTR->count; }
 
-    friend std::ptrdiff_t id(const Handle& x);
-    friend bool identical(const Handle& h1, const Handle& h2);
+    Id_type id() const { return PTR - static_cast<Rep*>(0); }
+
+    bool identical(const Handle& h) const { return PTR == h.PTR; }
 
   protected:
     Rep* PTR;
 };
 
-inline
-std::ptrdiff_t
-id(const Handle& x)
-{ return x.PTR - static_cast<Rep*>(static_cast<void*>(0)); }
+//inline Handle::Id_type id(const Handle& x) { return x.id() ; }
 
-inline
-bool
-identical(const Handle &h1, const Handle &h2)
-{ return h1.PTR == h2.PTR; }
+inline bool identical(const Handle &h1, const Handle &h2) { return h1.identical(h2); }
 
 CGAL_END_NAMESPACE
 
diff --git a/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_for.h b/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_for.h
index f97b1ad3de1..3ea2fca597d 100644
--- a/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_for.h
+++ b/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_for.h
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include <boost/config.hpp>
 #include <CGAL/memory.h>
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <cstddef>
 
 #if defined(BOOST_MSVC)
 #  pragma warning(push)
@@ -52,6 +53,8 @@ class Handle_for
 public:
 
     typedef T element_type;
+    
+    typedef std::ptrdiff_t Id_type ;
 
     Handle_for()
       : ptr_(allocator.allocate(1))
@@ -186,13 +189,10 @@ public:
         *this = t;
     }
 
-    bool
-    identical(const Handle_for& h) const
-    { return ptr_ == h.ptr_; }
+    Id_type id() const { return Ptr() - static_cast<T const*>(0); }
+    
+    bool identical(const Handle_for& h) const { return Ptr() == h.Ptr(); }
 
-    long int
-    id() const
-    { return reinterpret_cast<long int>(&*ptr_); }
 
     // Ptr() is the "public" access to the pointer to the object.
     // The non-const version asserts that the instance is not shared.
@@ -284,13 +284,7 @@ identical(const Handle_for<T, Allocator> &h1,
     return h1.identical(h2);
 }
 
-template <class T>
-inline
-bool
-identical(const T &t1, const T &t2)
-{
-    return &t1 == &t2;
-}
+template <class T> inline bool identical(const T &t1, const T &t2) { return &t1 == &t2; }
 
 template <class T, class Allocator>
 inline
diff --git a/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_for_virtual.h b/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_for_virtual.h
index ad74c8e96e9..5c7d1e90773 100644
--- a/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_for_virtual.h
+++ b/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_for_virtual.h
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 #include <CGAL/basic.h>
 #include <typeinfo>
+#include <cstddef>
 
 CGAL_BEGIN_NAMESPACE
 
@@ -65,6 +66,8 @@ class Handle_for_virtual
 {
   public:
 
+    typedef std::ptrdiff_t Id_type ;
+    
     Handle_for_virtual(const RefCounted& rc)
     {
       ptr = new RefCounted(rc);
@@ -118,13 +121,10 @@ class Handle_for_virtual
 	ptr = new T(rc);
     }
 
-    bool
-    identical( const Handle_for_virtual& h) const
-    { return ptr == h.ptr; }
+    Id_type id() const { return Ptr() - static_cast<RefCounted const*>(0); }
+    
+    bool identical( const Handle_for_virtual& h) const { return Ptr() == h.Ptr(); }
 
-    long int
-    id() const
-    { return reinterpret_cast<long int>(&*ptr); }
 
     void
     swap(Handle_for_virtual & h)
@@ -174,6 +174,9 @@ protected:
     RefCounted * ptr;
 };
 
+template <class RefCounted>
+inline bool identical(const Handle_for_virtual<RefCounted> &h1, const Handle_for_virtual<RefCounted> &h2) { return h1.identical(h2); }
+
 CGAL_END_NAMESPACE
 
 #endif // CGAL_HANDLE_FOR_VIRTUAL_H
diff --git a/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_with_policy.h b/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_with_policy.h
index 40d9a80ff7e..5476089351e 100644
--- a/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_with_policy.h
+++ b/STL_Extension/include/CGAL/Handle_with_policy.h
@@ -1126,7 +1126,8 @@ typename Handle_with_policy<T,Policy,Alloc>::Bind Handle_with_policy<T,Policy,Al
  *  ID numbers have to be fixed throughout an object's lifetime.
  */
 template <class T, class A>
-unsigned long ID_Number(const Handle_with_policy<T, Handle_policy_no_union, A>& h)
+typename Handle_with_policy<T, Handle_policy_no_union, A>::Id_type
+ID_Number(const Handle_with_policy<T, Handle_policy_no_union, A>& h)
     { return h.id(); }
 
 template <class T, class Policy, class Alloc>
@@ -1329,7 +1330,7 @@ public:
 
     //! returns a unique id value. Two handles share their representation
     //! is their id values are identical.
-    Id_type id() const { return reinterpret_cast<Id_type>(this); }
+    Id_type id() const { return ptr() - static_cast<T const*>(0); }
 
     //! returns \c false since the representation is not shared for
     //! this specialization.
@@ -1357,6 +1358,10 @@ public:
 #endif
 };
 
+template <class T, class HandlePolicy, class Allocator>
+inline bool identical(const Handle_with_policy<T,HandlePolicy,Allocator> &h1, const Handle_with_policy<T,HandlePolicy,Allocator> &h2) { return h1.is_identical(h2); }
+
+
 /*\brief
  * This class' function call operator test whether one handle's \c id is
  * less than the \c id of the other handle.