News

EMV Forum moves forward despite Durbin ruling

October 8, 2013

Members of the EMV Migration Forum continue to work toward the implementation of EMV chip technology in the United States, despite uncertainty rising from a recent court ruling that tossed out the Fed's cap on debit card surcharges, as well as its solution for network routing choice. 

At its September meeting members discussed EMV migration developments, including the implications of the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon that overturned the Federal Reserve Board's interpretation of Durbin Amendment requirements — and the Fed's subsequent appeal of the ruling. Many had questions about what impact this will have on U.S. EMV migration.

"[T]his meeting demonstrated stakeholder commitment to continue moving forward to achieve the benefits of EMV technology — reducing fraud, promoting global interoperability, and providing a path to future payments innovation," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the forum. "This commitment runs far deeper than just overcoming current debit challenges."

Sessions and working group reports

The meeting included an educational presentation from EMVCo on global adoption and new initiatives; an "EMV 101" tutorial session; general and project meetings for members of the forum's working committees; and two special interest group meetings for merchants and issuers.

Working committee chairs reported on the progress of their projects, including:

• forming ATM industry subgroups that will identify and address the sector's unique issues with EMV migration;
• defining the requirements for an online knowledge center that will collect relevant educational resources on EMV in one place, and developing guidelines to help payments stakeholders communicate with their customers about EMV migration;
• producing a white paper on testing and certification best practices for issuers moving to chip cards;
• exploring a potential "phase one" rollout in order to promote efficient and consistent EMV operations and messaging;
• preparing a detailed outline for a white paper on best practices for mitigating card-not-present fraud. 

Effects of district court ruling

Vanderhoof said that the court's ruling in regard to debit transaction routing requirements has implications for EMV migration planning.

"It calls into question whether at least two debit routing choices are required for each card, or for each transaction. This can impact the technical implementation of EMV for debit and its multiple industry stakeholders," he said.

Interim steps

Despite uncertainty about routing, industry stakeholders can take steps toward EMV migration:

• educating themselves about EMV technology and implementation options;
• determining strategies for EMV card issuance and acceptance;
• assessing current infrastructure and determining appropriate changes;
• developing a project plan for EMV migration.

"In terms of debit, while there are uncertainties about how it will play out, stakeholders continue to have strong interest in understanding and discussing the previously recommended debit routing options to better understand the requirements of issuers, merchants and acquirers," said Vanderhoof.

Read more about EMV.