Visa and MasterCard introduced the EMV Integrated Circuit Card Specifications for Payment Systems in 1996 as a measure to reduce fraud. This development was also adopted by other card schemes like American Express and JCB. As a result of this development cards from these schemes are more and more often equipped with an EMV chip.

 

The acceptance of EMV chip card transactions required an upgrade at the level of ATMs and payment terminals which started for Belgium in 2004 and is now to a large extent completed. Even if the availability of semi-on-line terminals was limited at the start of the upgrade program, major players for this segment can now provide suitable solutions. Next to semi-on-line terminals new ranges of terminals with high-speed communication complement this offer.

 

As card issuers invested massively in EMV chip card technology to combat fraud, the card schemes also encouraged the acquirer systems to rely on this technology to make this combat effective. Therefore, since January 2005 the liability shift was introduced by some card schemes, bringing back the responsibility for a fraud case to the merchant if the fraud could have been avoided by using a chip card terminal instead of reading the more vulnerable magnetic stripe.

 

Meanwhile the European Payment Council has adopted the SEPA Cards Framework (SCF) to promote the use of the card payment instrument across the Single Euro Payment Area, in the same way as the Euro notes eased the cross-border use of cash. The SCF mandates that card schemes operating is SEPA issue cards with an EMV chip at latest before the end of 2010.

 

Today acquirers still support the older pre-EMV magnetic stripe technology (ATEA protocol) next to the more modern EMV technology (C-TAP). As all cards in SEPA will be equipped with EMV chips by the end of 2010, there is no need to further support ATEA, certainly taking into account that C-TAP terminals still allow accepting these cards with magnetic stripe from  these parts of  the world that do not issue EMV chip cards.

 

Independently from scheme rules, such as the application of the liability shift, all relevant acquirers marked under "pre-EMV" will discontinue the support of the obsolescent ATEA technology at latest by the end of 2010. If you still operate an old magnetic stripe terminal, please contact your terminal vendor to identify a suitable solution before that date.

 

Electronic Payment Certification Institute © 2012