Message from the Chair of the EMVCo Board of Managers

Another busy quarter saw the EMVCo community come together for both our Technical Meeting in Singapore and the annual EMV® User Meeting in Salt Lake City to discuss the trends shaping the development of EMV Specifications, and how EMV technologies are evolving to support industry needs and changing consumer behaviours. Key topics and updates covered included agentic payments, digital identity and payments, quantum computing, Electric Vehicle Open Payments, EMV Secure Remote Commerce and EMV 3-D Secure.

This industry collaboration and feedback is shaping the ongoing development of the EMV Specifications. Following review from EMVCo Associates, EMVCo has published a draft framework to support the interoperable use of verifiable digital credentials for card-based payment authentication. The draft EMV Digital Payment Credential Specification – Schema Framework is available for initial public review until 23 July, and will define the data that a Digital Payment Credential contains and how it is structured to support secure, privacy-preserving and scalable authentication for card-based payments. All interested stakeholders are encouraged to provide their feedback.

And with digital credentials and wallets fast becoming part of everyday life, advancing the development of secure, interoperable and scalable digital infrastructure is a key priority. EMVCo is co-organising the Global Digital Collaboration Conference 2026, which takes place in Geneva, Switzerland from 1-3 September, where we will be exploring how emerging digital identity technologies can promote trusted and convenient card-based payments for billions of consumers and businesses worldwide. Registration for this event is open – see here for more details.

Amid EMVCo’s work to support emerging payments use-cases, I wanted to finish by recognising the enduring success of the EMV Chip technology. At the end of 2025, over 15.6 billion EMV Chip cards were in global circulation, more than 97% of card-present transactions conducted globally used EMV Chip technology, and over 70% of issued cards globally are EMV-enabled.

As always, we have detailed below a summary of key EMVCo news, technical updates and activities from the last quarter, and outlined the latest educational resources available to support understanding of EMVCo’s work. We encourage you to share this newsletter with your colleagues and industry peers.

Finally, as the EMVCo Board of Managers rotates the position every 12 months, this will be my last newsletter as Chair. I am pleased to welcome Matt Crothers to the role, and look forward to continuing to work with him, the EMVCo community and the wider payments industry to advance EMV Specifications and support the global delivery of seamless and secure payments.

Tabitha Odom,

Chair of the EMVCo Board of Managers

Upcoming Meetings

Associates can register for the following sessions via the EMVCo website.

  • Functional Lab Meeting, 15-17 September, Watthana, Thailand (only open to EMVCo functional labs and test tool providers) * Invited EMVCo Subscribers can register for this meeting
  • Board of Advisors Meeting, 13-14 October, Hanoi, Vietnam
  • Technical Meeting, 10-12 November, Vancouver, Canada

Not yet an EMVCo Associate? Learn more about EMVCo participation opportunities here.

News

EMVCo Requests Feedback on Verifiable Digital Credentials for Card-Based Payment Authentication

EMVCo has released a draft framework to support the interoperable use of verifiable digital credentials for card-based payment authentication. All interested stakeholders are encouraged to provide their feedback on the EMV Digital Payment Credential Specification – Schema Framework by 23 July 2026.  

Learn more here.

Technical Updates

Available to Public:

SB n°318 ERRD PCD Measurement in Book C-2

Announces an alternative mechanism for measuring the time taken by the Exchange Relay Resistance Data command.

SB n°319: New TRMD Bits for Book C-2

Outlines proposed changes to the Terminal Risk Management Data of Kernel 2 by introducing two additional bits – ‘Deferred Authorisation’ and ‘Transit Gate’ – which would enable the Card to receive additional transaction-related information.

SB n°322 Updates of Terminology in Book C-5

Provides a terminology update, replacing “On-Device CVM” with “CDCVM” within the specification.

SB n°317 Magstripe Mode Removal in Book C-2

Announces that the Mag-stripe Mode Implementation Option in Kernel 2 is no longer supported, resulting in the remaining two valid Kernel 2 implementations being ‘with and without Data Exchange’ & ‘Data Storage’.

FAQ: EMV® 3-D Secure – Technical Questions

Provides additional information through frequently asked questions about the EMV® 3-D Secure (3DS) specifications.

SB n°323 Updates to C-6

Provides clarifications and corrections on the handling of optional card data elements and clearing the Tearing log within Book C-6, Kernel 6 Specification.

SB n°314 Update to TRMD

Extends the usage of the Terminal Risk Management Data and introduces three use cases: a deferred Authorisation bit, a Transit Gate bit, and a byte for use by Payment Systems.

SB n°325 Updates to Book C-8

Provides clarifications and corrections to Book C-8, Kernel 8 Specification, including the removal of ‘Service Code, clarification of ‘decryption failed’ signal and of the length of ‘Proceed to First Wire Flag’.

SB n°326 Updates to Book A

Provides corrections and clarification on the EMV® Contactless Specifications for Payment Systems, Book A, Architecture and General Requirements Version 2.11.

SB n°327 Updates to Book B

Provides corrections and clarification on the EMV® Contactless Specifications for Payment Systems, Book B, Entry Point Specification Version 2.11.

GB n°60: EMV Contact Chip Features Sunsetting – Phase 1 Version 3.0

Describes EMVCo’s plans for sunsetting certain features in the EMV Contact Chip Specification to enable a more flexible transition where needed.

SB n°308 Contact Chip Features Sunsetting – Phase 1 Version 2.0

Introduces updates to provide stakeholders with flexibility to sunset plaintext PIN.

EMV® Level 3 (L3) Participant Systems Guidelines

Provides specific implementation details and instructions for creating and supporting various technical components of the Level 3 Framework.

EMVCo SBMP Security Evaluation Process

Describes the EMVCo Security Evaluation Process requirements and procedures for the evaluation of Software-Based Mobile Payment (SBMP) product solutions, comprising software and related hardware components.

EMV® 3-D Secure Approval Administrative Process Version 1.6

Updated since the publication of Version 1.5 to allow Test Client Agent to be provided either by Product Provider or Test Platform Provider.

3DSA Bulletin n°29: 3DS Testing Optimization for all components

Introduces a new regression testing approach that will apply to all 3DS components 2.3.1.

TTA Bulletin n°285: Book C-8 Test Package Release Version 1.1d

Outlines the updated Book C-8 Test Package Release for Type Approval and describes the document changes to the Test Package Release, including the edits to the Test tool files providing the corrections to the Tool Vendors.

TA Bulletin n°199: Contact Terminal Level 2 Type Approval Specific Approval and Restricted Renewal Rules

Introduces updates to the SB272 Specification Bulletin outlining the new rules for the Contact Level 2 Application Kernel approval process.

TTA Bulletin n°292: Terminal L2 Test Plan Release Version 4.4d

Provides specific instructions for all Type Approval test sessions to use the 4.4d version of the test document and that products will be type approved using 4.4d version of the test plan only.

EMV® Terminal Type Approval – Level 2 – Test Cases

Introduces the latest iteration of the EMV® Terminal Type Approval – Level 2 – Test Cases version 44d.

EMV® Digital Payment Credential Specification – Schema Framework (Draft)

Provides a framework to support the interoperable use of verifiable digital credentials for card-based payment authentication, defining a Digital Payment Credential.

Available to Associates and Subscribers:

EMV Payment Tokenisation Specification – Technical Framework Version 2.4 (Draft)

Outlines further updates to the Payment Tokenisation Specification – Technical Framework Version 2.3, including changes to references of PAR, and the inclusion of additional use cases supported by PAR.

EMV Payment Tokenisation – A Guide to Use Cases Version 2.3 (Draft)

Provides an update to Version 2.2.1 of the guide, including modification of Token Issuance and Token Provisioning relationships, and addition of new use case examples.

EMV Level 3 Technical Bulletin n°321

Provides details of updates, clarifications and corrections required to the L3 EMV® Level 3 Testing Framework Implementation Guidelines – Version 1.3.r and L3 EMV® Level 3 Testing Framework Pseudo-Function Definitions for Test Card Images – Version 1.6.

TTA Bulletin n°293: Contact Terminal Level 2 Type Approval Contactless Product Type Approval Terminals

Provides an update that EMVCo aims to ensure that all kernels (whether contact or contactless) with Letters of Approval (LOAs) valid before January 2031 are able to process transactions after 2038.

EMV® 3-D Secure Protocol and Core Functions Specification Version 2.4 (Draft)

Further describes the EMV 3-D Secure infrastructure and components, and specifies the requirements for each component within the infrastructure and their interaction.

Available to Associates:

DSB n°324: Updates to C-4

Outlines proposed changes to the EMV® Contactless Specifications for Payment Systems Book C-4 Kernel 4 Specification, Version 2.11.

DSB n°329: ECC ODE Key Derivation

Describes proposed changes to the EMV Card Key Derivation for ECC ODE, so that when decrypting encrypted data the card should not re-derive ODE keys if they have already been derived for the transaction.

DSB n°331: RRP Requirements for Kernel 2

Introduces Terminal RRP Delay, Mean Terminal RRP Delay, Terminal RRP Spread and Mean Terminal RRP Transmission Time as new parameters associated with the processing of the ERRD Command.

View the latest EMV Specifications and Technical Resources on the EMVCo website.

Events

EMVCo connects with payment stakeholders at industry events across the globe. Below are the events EMVCo attended in April, May and June 2026:

CharIN North America Member Meeting

Chair of the EMVCo Electric Vehicle Open Payments Task Force, Soumya Chakrabarty, delivered a presentation on the EMVCo EV Open Payments solution and provided an update on the ‘New Payment Solutions’ joint initiative with CharIN, which focuses on aligning EMV-based open payments with ISO 15118 Plug & Charge systems.

Educational Resources and Updates from EMVCo

Do you have colleagues, partners or customers who would benefit from greater EMV understanding? Check out and share these latest educational resources for insights and information on the role and value of EMVCo and EMV Specifications.

EMV Insights

Resources

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EMV® is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries and an unregistered trademark elsewhere. The EMV trademark is owned by EMVCo, LLC

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