Credit Cards (EMV)

The EMV migration programme
MasterCard and Visa have planned a global migration scheme for credit and debit cards (see www.emvco.com). For that purpose they have outlined and specified a common Integrated Circuit Card for Payment Systems and related Type Approval process and requirements specifications. EMV's objective is to initiate card transactions with the use of this chip (and no longer the magnetic stripe) and authenticating the cardholder with a personal identification number (and no longer a signature). In first instance this will affect the traditional credit card terminal market, based essentially on mag-stripe technology and cardholder verification through signature of a sales voucher. In a later stage domestic debit card processing might also migrate to EMV technology. The credit card terminals will have to be upgraded. An important prerequisite for such a migration is the availability of an EMV L1 smart card reader and a secure pinpad comparable to the one used for Bancontact/MisterCash. See also: tables of presently certified terminals and the vendor's upgrade plans. Bank Card Company, euroConex Belgium, American Express (Alpha Card), Europabank, JCB, CETELEM and PaySqaure have agreed to use a common protocol for the on-line acquisition of EMV transactions called BAP and later C-TAP. Vendors can obtain the specifications for the C-TAP protocol from EPCI.
Merchant transactions for EMV credit cards
Description of the function	In a face-to-face environment a merchant is given access to a number of functions: Sales : In sales transaction the cardholder can request the transfer of money from the cardholder’s account to the merchant’s account. This transaction is authorised by the acquiring systems according to the rules of the acquirer. The cardholder confirms his identity by his signature. Data are captured electronically. Authorisation : The merchant will check if a cardholder is in a position to an ulterior request for the transfer of money from the cardholder’s account to the merchant’s account. This transaction is authorised by the acquiring systems according to the rules of acquirer. In case of positive of authorisation the transaction amount is reserved by the acquirer and a transaction confirmation is required (sales transaction, paper procedure or any other appropriate method) Reversals: A merchant, under given circumstances, can request a sales or authorisation to be cancelled. This reversal is authorised by the acquiring systems according to the rules of acquirer. Statements: A merchant can request a statement of the amounts acquired since the last cut-over by the acquirer or since his last cut-over instruction Transactions are initiated either by reading the card's EMV chip of a card according to the rules set by the acquirer
POS terminals in a merchant environment – online	The transactions can only be processed using an on-line connection to the acquiring host systems. The merchant’s terminal accesses the acquiring systems over the Public Switched Telephone Network, the ISDN network or BANKNET-TCP/IP using a proprietary protocol.
POS terminals in a merchant environment – semi-online	Under certain circumstances transactions can be authorised by the terminal. For some transaction an on-line connection with the acquiring system will be required. A transaction log will be sent in batch to the acquiring host system(s).
Unattended transactions	Under preparation