EMV® Contactless Chip supports seamless and secure transactions made with contactless chip cards and NFC enabled mobile devices.
Contactless transactions are rapidly increasing around the world as part of a broader shift towards touchless payments. EMV Contactless Chip supports in-store payments with contactless chip cards and Near-Field Communication (NFC) enabled mobile devices that do not require physical contact with the acceptance terminal. Consumers wave or tap their device on the terminal to complete the transaction. A one-time use security code is generated for every transaction to safeguard against fraud.
EMV Contactless Chip is supported by the EMV Chip1, EMV Contactless2, and EMV Contactless Kernel Specifications, which together define the requirements for the chip and acceptance terminal to communicate and process contact and contactless transactions seamlessly anywhere in the world.
EMVCo publishes the EMV Chip and EMV Contactless Specifications and supporting approval and evaluation processes.
EMV Contactless Chip supports seamless and secure contactless acceptance worldwide.
Uses advanced cryptographic functions for more secure transactions than with traditional magnetic stripe cards.
Supports the development of payment products that will work seamlessly and securely anywhere they are used for contactless transactions.
Enables a consistent contactless payment experience for consumers wherever they are in the world.
Flexible to support loyalty programmes, transit ticketing and other offerings not dedicated to payments.
A contactless kernel provides a set of functions for the payment application in the acceptance device to process contactless transactions. An EMV Contactless Kernel is a kernel that has been evaluated and approved as meeting the EMV Contactless Kernel Specification.
Each global payment system has its own specification for a contactless kernel. EMVCo publishes these individual specifications on the EMVCo website as Book C-X Specifications.
EMVCo recently published the EMV C-8 Book Specification to provide the industry with an EMV Contactless Kernel Specification that can be licensed directly from EMVCo under the same terms as the EMV Contact Chip Specification.
Requirements for placement of the contactless symbol are described in the Contactless Symbol Reproduction Requirements available here.
A proximity coupling device is the hardware part of a contactless reader that supports the protocol communication with the consumer device (card or mobile).
Proximity integrated circuit cards are contactless smart cards.
It is important to note that quantum computing is not expected to start posing a threat to the EMV infrastructure until at least 2040.
Harvest Now Decrypt Later, which aims to steal encrypted data today in the view that it can be decrypted and used for malicious purposes in the future, has driven a requirement in some industries and governments to deploy quantum resistant cryptography. However, this does not apply to EMV Chip transactions, as chip authentication does not require long-term data confidentiality.
Regardless, EMVCo is taking very seriously the potential threat of quantum computers undermining the security of RSA (Rivest, Shamir and Adleman) and ECC (Elliptic-Curve Cryptography) and is actively monitoring and addressing future threats.
EMVCo’s dedicated Security Working Group engages with leading quantum computing and security academics, independent consultants, and government bodies. The findings of this work are regularly shared with the EMV community at EMVCo’s Board of Advisor, Technical and User Meetings.
EMVCo has also published a position statement on ‘Quantum Computing and EMV Chip Cryptography’ that is publicly available here. It is now exploring quantum computing market requirements that are being released at a global and national level and their applicability to EMV technology.
This document provides guidance on the design, implementation, and installation of devices used by merchants to accept contactless payments.
This document includes the requirements for use of the EMV Contactless Indicator on physical cards, mobile phones, other payment and non-payment form factors, and within supporting marketing collateral.
This document includes the requirements for use of the EMV Contactless Symbol at point-of-sale terminals and within supporting marketing collateral.
The Contactless Indicator is for use on payment cards and mobile devices to demonstrate that they can be used to make EMV Contactless payments.
The Contactless Symbol is for use at the point-of-sale to signal to consumers that a payment terminal can accept EMV Contactless payments.
1 EMV Chip refers to EMV Integrated Circuit Card Specifications for Payment Systems.
2 EMV Contactless refers to Book A, B and C-X.
More than a hundred organisations – including merchants, issuers, acquirers, payment networks, financial institutions, manufacturers, technology providers and testing laboratories – contribute their knowledge and expertise to the development of EMV Specifications.
EMVCo Associates can contribute their knowledge and expertise to shape the development of EMV Specifications.
EMVCo Subscribers can receive notice of pending EMV Specification developments and participate in a formal dialogue with EMVCo.
All industry participants can review and provide comments on new EMV Specifications and major updates before final publication.
EMVCo's new website and Participant Dashboard are now live. To access your account for the first time on our new website you'll need to carry out a password reset here. You will then be sent an email to reset your password.
EMVCo Associates, Subscribers and public users of emvco.com can create accounts to manage their engagement and participation with EMVCo. Using your EMVCo account, you can create your own watchlist of EMV technologies documents, monitor queries and responses, and manage your profile.
