News

EMF releases revised standardized terms for EMV chip technology

April 4, 2014

The EMV Migration Forum has released a new version of "Standardization of Terminology," a glossary designed to encourage consistency and accuracy in communications about chip technology by payments players and the media.

"Moving to chip card payments requires internal and external education throughout the entire payments industry," said Randy Vanderhoof, director of the EMV Migration Forum. "This document is a great resource to help the industry to use consistent language when speaking and writing about chip technology in order to facilitate broad understanding, reduce confusion and allow for a smooth migration."

The document defines commonly used, "preferred" terms relating to chip card payment technology. Importantly, it also lists terms that are less preferred because they might be misinterpreted.

A few examples of preferred terms from "Standardization of Terminology":

Card reader. The recommended term for the area of the chip-enabled terminal where consumers insert their card to initiate a contact chip card transaction, or tap their card to initiate a contactless chip card transaction. Preferred over synonyms dip reader, manual reader and motorized reader.

Chip card. The recommended term for referring to new payment cards containing embedded secure integrated circuits. Preferred over synonyms EMV card, smart card and integrated circuit card.

Chip-enabled terminal. The recommended term for point-of-sale terminals that have, or are connected to, a chip card reader, an EMV application and are able to process chip card transactions. Preferred over synonym EMV terminal.

Dual-interface chip card. The recommended term for a chip card that has both contact and contactless interfaces, enabling payment transactions with either interface. Preferred over synonyms dual interface card, dual chip card and contactless card.

Technical terms have been limited to those that would be used in educational and marketing communications.

The complete document, "Standardization of Terminology," is available for download.