With EMVCo celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2024, October’s joint Board of Advisors and Technical Meeting provided a special opportunity for the entire Associate community to come together to reflect on the success and advances of EMV® payments technology.
In this post, Oliver Manahan, EMVCo Director of Engagement and Operations, and Arman Aygen, EMVCo Director of Technology, summarise the key discussions and initiatives from the meeting that stand to shape EMVCo’s work in the years to come.
1. Reflecting on 25 years.
EMV technology has come a long way in 25 years. At the end of 2023, there were nearly 14 billion EMV Chip cards in circulation and almost 95% of card-present transactions used EMV Chip technology. Various EMV technologies are now built on this foundation, allowing consumers and businesses to make trusted and reliable card-based payments in-store and online – wherever they are in the world.
This was illustrated by Jorge Paulo from SIBS, who detailed the role of EMV Specifications in supporting and enabling payments innovation in Portugal – and explored the opportunities and considerations arising from growing adoption of EMV Contactless, EMV 3-D Secure (3DS) and EMV Payment Tokenisation.
Speeches from Stephen Downie from Verifone and Junya Tanaka from JCB, two of EMVCo’s longest-standing participants, also provided an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of many individuals and the wider Associate community in shaping the EMV Specifications.
2. EMVCo Approvals and Evaluations continue to advance.
EMVCo announced that it has received ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation for its security evaluation processes. This new status as an accredited certification body recognises the value and quality of EMVCo security product evaluations in enabling the deployment of safe and secure payment solutions.
The testing process for the new EMV® Contactless Kernel Specification (EMV® Contactless Specifications for Payment Systems: Book C-8 – Kernel 8 Specification) was also launched in Lisbon, with the first laboratory accreditations, tool qualifications and product approvals now listed on the EMVCo website. By evaluating whether products perform in accordance with the specification, approval testing will support the evolution of contactless and mobile payments and simplify global acceptance.
This follows the launch of a dedicated testing approval process to promote a more seamless experience when smartphones and other handheld mobile devices are used to accept contactless payments – known as TapToMobile. Looking ahead, EMVCo is developing a roadmap for adapting the acceptance criteria to bring the experience delivered by TapToMobile devices closer to that of traditional payment terminals.
EMVCo also provided an update on its Biometric on Card initiative. Dedicated security requirements have now been defined and incorporated into the chip security guidelines and evaluation process. In addition, EMVCo has been refining biometric performance requirements following industry feedback and expects to publish the document this year, with work continuing on the development of a supporting testing process and approval programme.
Finally, and to reflect the vital role that EMVCo testing plays within the broader payments ecosystem, the Approvals and Evaluations section on the EMVCo website has been updated to make it easier for industry stakeholders to find key information about processes and products.
3. A look at how an EMV EV Open Payments (EVOP) Specification might work.
EMVCo is continuing to explore the development of an EMV EVOP Specification that would enable a card-based capability within the ISO 15118 ‘Plug & Charge’ experience – with EMV Chip technology serving as the foundation for face-to-face payments. This included an exclusive showing of an interactive demo outlining possible transaction flows and user interface considerations.
As part of the initiative, EMVCo announced it is investigating a potential approach that leverages EMV Secure Remote Commerce. To provide an opportunity for further engagement on this topic, EMVCo is hosting a dedicated Special Interest Meeting on 10 December and organisations are encouraged to register their interest.
Attendees also heard from the CTO of CharIN, Michael Keller, to learn about the association’s work to promote a seamless and interoperable charging infrastructure for all vehicles. Given the critical importance of industry collaboration in shaping the development of a potential EMV EVOP Specification, close engagement with CharIN and its wider community continues to be a priority.
4. Simplifying the EMV 3DS Specifications.
EMVCo has kicked off an initiative to simplify the EMV 3DS Specification structure and explore the potential to move towards a modular approach to increase optionality and customisation, achieve backwards compatibility, and accelerate time-to-market.
This is a major undertaking that requires significant and active engagement, so EMVCo is using its Targeted Technology Engagement (TTE) programme to establish regular touchpoints for participants and enable in-depth discussions. Lisbon marked the second TTE session and EMVCo strongly encourages all participants with experience spanning EMV 3DS, software specification development, and software architecture to get involved.
5. Understanding and supporting regional regulations is a priority.
The EU’s regulatory focus on digital identity has important implications for the payments ecosystem. Marie Austenaa, representing the EU Digital Wallet Consortium, examined how the revised eIDAS Regulation mandates EU Member States to provide European Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallets to all citizens and businesses to support a myriad of use cases. This includes payments, with potential applications including payment authentication for e-commerce transactions. As momentum builds and with EUDI Wallet payment pilots planned for 2025, EMVCo is committed to helping promote alignment with the existing infrastructure and proven technology specifications.
Keeping the focus on regulation, Galit Shani-Michel, representing the Merchant Risk Council, explored the implications and challenges for the merchant community posed by the EU’s Payment Service Directive 3 (PSD3) and Payment Service Regulation (PSR). She flagged that continued collaboration and engagement across the industry is key to balance security, functionality, usability and, crucially, the commercial and operational capabilities of merchants.
Get 2025 EMVCo meeting dates in your diary today.
EMVCo has confirmed the following meetings for 2025:
- Board of Advisors Meeting, 4-6 March 2025, Athens, Greece
- Technical Meeting, 7-10 April 2025, Bangkok, Thailand
- EMV User Meeting, 10-11 June 2025, Osaka, Japan
- Board of Advisors Meeting, 21-22 October 2025, Charleston, USA
- Technical Meeting, 17-20 November 2025, Vienna, Austria
by Oliver Manahan