What are EMV® Specifications?

EMV® Specifications are technical requirements for designing payment products to work seamlessly and securely everywhere. This is important to the delivery of safe and reliable payments that merchants, businesses and consumers expect globally.

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EMV Specifications at a Glance
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Global

EMV Specifications are designed to be global, meaning any business in any country can adopt them and expect their products and solutions to work everywhere.

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Flexible

EMV Specifications are flexible to accommodate the needs of different geographies and marketplaces and support innovation.

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Royalty-free

EMV Specifications are available royalty-free on the EMVCo website for all to use.

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Support Safe and Reliable Payments

EMV Specifications support the delivery of secure, seamless and consistent payments.

Specification Development Process

Payments technology continues to advance, and innovation in card-based payments is critical. To support seamless and secure payments, EMV Specifications need to evolve accordingly. This requires payments industry stakeholders to provide feedback throughout the specification development process.

Over a hundred banks, merchants, technology providers and other industry stakeholders contribute their knowledge and expertise to the development of EMV Specifications.

This results in EMV Specifications being used across the payments industry to create products and services that deliver trusted and convenient payments for merchants and consumers around the world.

Get involved Interested in collaborating with EMVCo? Ways to participate

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.