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ATMIA: Court decision could 'completely stall progress' on EMV

August 8, 2013

The ATM Industry Association has expressed concern that the July 31 decision by the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, which overturned Fed rules on debit fee caps and routing choice will inject unwelcome uncertainty into the debit world.

"This decision could completely stall progress toward development of the debit solutions necessary for the vast US EMV migration," said David Tente, executive director USA for ATMIA, "With one liability shift passed and others looming in the near future, we're already seeing that the court's action has created a heightened level of confusion in the industry."

Although the Durbin rules on routing choice never applied directly to ATM withdrawal transactions, most of those transactions today are initiated by consumer debit cards, which are used for retail purchases.

As a result, ATMIA said in a news release, most financial institutions are holding back on debit card issuance until a solution is agreed upon that not only meets regulatory requirements and the EMV specifications, but also provides network-to-network portability, without the need for mass reissuance of cards at a later stage.

"The simple reality of that interrelationship means that a solution for ATM owners, operators, and users will not be possible until all associated debit card issues are first resolved for retail merchants," ATMIA said in the release.

ATMIA said its position continues to be one of support for minimal "regulation" — whether from government or the global networks — and ATM and card markets that are driven by consumer need and convenience, competition, and the cost of doing business. Such an approach would ultimately lead to greater choice and lower costs for consumers, the association said.

"Instead, our industry today finds itself dealing with a court decision that has just thrown away the rules upon which we have based all of our work for the past year," said Tente. "Work that was necessary because the EMV spec being dictated by the global networks does not fit well with the U.S. payment system as a whole. And meanwhile, the industry still faces the same unrealistic liability shifts."

The need to rewrite rules, which has now arisen as a result of this latest Court decision, will almost certainly delay deployment of EMV debit solutions, ATMIA said, pushing operators even further past the deadlines and simultaneously increasing implementation costs and potential fraud losses.

"ATMIA is hopeful that global networks will finally come to realize that the current EMV migration roadmaps need some serious readjustment to fit broader industry needs," Tente said. 

Read more about regulatory issues.

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

The ATM Industry Association, founded in 1997, is a global non-profit trade association with over 10,500 members in 65 countries. The membership base covers the full range of this worldwide industry comprising over 2.2 million installed ATMs.

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