The capabilities of the merchant point-of-sale (POS) system play a pivotal role in the success of any payment innovation. Issuers can distribute EMV chip cards, but the fraud reduction benefits of chip technology won’t be realized if merchants can’t accept the cards. With the October 2015 fraud liability shift, merchants who do not implement EMV-compliant terminals will be responsible for certain types of fraud. Planning an EMV migration strategy is a top priority for all merchants.

The resources on this site provide a range of educational material – from EMV basics to detailed guidance on what merchants should consider to develop a roadmap to accept chip cards and devices.

• EMV Fundamentals
• EMV Communications Best Practices
• EMV Technical Education and Implementation Guidance
• EMV White Papers
• Card-Not-Present Fraud
• EMV Workshops
• EMV Educational Webinars
• Payments Industry Resources on EMV
• Other Forum Resources
• Other Payments Industry Resources

EMV Fundamentals

• Chip Card Video
  This video explains what chip cards are, why consumers are receiving them, and how to use them in stores and at ATMs.
• Chip Education for VARs, ISVs and Merchants
  These recorded webcasts were developed by the Payments Security Task Force and EMV Migration Forum to provide educational resources for U.S. value added resellers, independent software vendors and merchant.
• EMV 101 Webinar
  This recorded webinar provides a primer on EMV chip payments. The webinar provides comprehensive overview of EMV chip payments, including the EMV transaction flow and options for card authentication, cardholder verification and transaction authorization.
• EMV Chip Cards: The Future of Payments
  This EMV Migration Forum infographic explains the must-know facts about U.S. EMV Migration.
• The EMV Ecosystem: An Interactive Experience for the Payments Community
  This interactive PowerPoint presentation provides an overview of the full EMV ecosystem, with participants who play roles in EMV issuance, acceptance and transaction processes.
• EMV Frequently Asked Questions
  This FAQ answers common questions about EMV.
• GetContactless.com
  Developed by the U.S. Payments for merchants and issuers, the GetContactless.com web site provides easy-to-use resources for merchants interested in enabling consumers to make contactless payments.
• GoChipCard.com
  Developed by the EMV Migration Forum and the Payments Security Task Force for consumers, merchants and issuers, the GoChipCard.com web site provides easy-to-use and simple resources, and consistent messages about chip cards and their use. Merchants and issuers are encouraged to use the website content in developing communications with customers, cardholders and employees. Merchant and issuer resources include a training FAQ, a merchant infographic and communications best practices.
• Minimum EMV Chip Card and Terminal Requirements – U.S.
  This resource defines the minimum card and terminal EMV requirements for payment networks American Express, Armed Forces Financial Network (AFFN), China UnionPay, Discover, Jeanie, MasterCard, NYCE, PULSE, SHAZAM, STAR and Visa, in the context of the U.S. electronic payments marketplace and the October 2015 liability shifts.
• Understanding Fraud Liability for EMV Contact and Contactless Transactions in the U.S.
  This updated U.S. Payments Forum white paper reviews payment network fraud liability policies for EMV contact and contactless transactions in the U.S.
• Using Chip Cards
  See how chip cards are used to pay with this short video.

EMV Communications Best Practices

• Debunking EMV Myths
  The U.S. Payments Forum created this guide to provide accurate information for all stakeholders communicating about contact and contactless chip technology, including card issuers, retailers and the media.
• Effective Communication Practices for U.S. Chip Migration Webinar
  This recorded webinar provides guidance to help industry stakeholders create sound communication strategies that will help the U.S. market understand and embrace chip payments and their many security benefits.
• Glossary of Standardized Terminology
  The EMV Migration Forum developed a glossary that defines a set of standard terminology for common chip, EMV, and EMV migration terms for use in educational and marketing communications relating to the U.S. migration.
• Recommended Communications Best Practices.
  This guide provides a step-by-step resource for issuers and merchants to develop effective messaging and education approaches during the U.S. migration to chip technology.

EMV Technical Education and Implementation Guidance

• Best Practices – Customer Messaging for Transit Open Payments
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides a resource outlining customer communication best practices for contactless open payments acceptance in transit.
• Canadian Technical Card Acceptance
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides implementation guidance on application selection logic used by U.S. POS terminals to enable interoperability when processing Canadian cards.
• Cardholder Verification Methods: Concepts, Implementations, and Impacts
  This video recording reviews EMV Cardholder Verification Method concepts, implementation and impact on issuers, ATM owners, merchants, and cardholders.
• Card-Not-Present (CNP) Fraud Mitigation Techniques
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides a resource profiling different CNP fraud mitigation techniques.
• Card-on-File Tokenization Considerations, Including Debit Routing
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides an overview of card-on-file tokenization solution options and stakeholder considerations.
• Consumer Experience at the Contactless Point-of-Sale
  This U.S. Payments Forum white paper describes best practices for implementing contactless at the POS to reduce stakeholder and consumer confusion and to help contactless deliver fully on its benefits to merchants, issuers, consumers, and the entire payments ecosystem.
• Consumer Interactions at the POS
  The U.S. Payments Forum developed this resource provide education on consumer interactions with payment terminals that can be used to develop practical guidance for safer in-store payments.
• Contact Chip Card Online Authentication
  This animated presentation provides a clear description of how an EMV transaction is secured using “cryptograms.”
• Contactless Limits and EMV Transaction Processing
  The U.S. Payments Forum developed this resource to provide guidance on how contactless limits are used during EMV contactless transaction processing in the U.S.
• Contactless Operating Mode Requirements Clarification
  This U.S. Payments Forum white paper provides a resource to help merchants, issuers and acquirers understand the contactless operating mode rules set by each of the payment networks.
• Contactless Resources: Implementation Considerations and Clarifications
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides guidance to assist merchants, acquirers and issuers with contactless payments implementation.
• Dual-Interface Card Personalization
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides the issuing community with an educational resource on ODA and provides recommendations for issuing and personalizing dual-interface cards for the U.S. market.
• EMV 3-D Secure
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides a primer on the EMV 3DS protocol, its features and the data and transaction process.
• EMV 101 for the Healthcare Industry
  This Smart Card Alliance white paper was developed to provide an educational resource on EMV chip migration for the healthcare industry.  The white paper describes EMV chip technology, discusses the impact of EMV for healthcare providers and hospital systems, and outlines how the healthcare industry can prepare for EMV chip migration.
• EMV Best Practices Web Resource
  The EMV Migration Forum developed this searchable web resource to provide easy-to-find answers on commonly asked questions about best practices for implementing EMV chip technology.
• EMV Chargeback Best Practices
  This white paper discusses the appropriate treatment and mitigation of both counterfeit and lost/stolen chip liability shift chargebacks occurring after the liability shift dates for contact chip cards used in attended transactions. The white paper includes best practices for issuers, merchants (both chip-enabled and non-chip-enabled) and acquirers.
• EMV Implementation Guidance: Fallback Transactions
  The U.S. Payments Forum developed this guidance document for merchants, independent software vendors (ISVs), value-added resellers (VARs) and acquirers/processors who may have been experiencing high fallback rates.  The guidance outlines potential causes of fallback transactions and actions that can be taken to address the problem.
• EMV Level 3 Contactless Certification Recommended Solutions to Reduce Deployment Time
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource discusses challenges and potential solutions to implementation and deployment of Level 3 (L3) certified EMV contactless implementations for merchants
• EMV and NFC: Complementary Technologies Enabling Secure Contactless Payments
  This Smart Card Alliance white paper explains how EMV and NFC are companion technologies and clarify how they work together to enable secure payments.
• EMV and Parking
  This Smart Card Alliance white paper was developed in partnership with the International Parking Institute to provide parking industry stakeholders with an educational resource about the critical aspects of deploying an EMV solution in the parking infrastructure
• EMV Payment Tokenization Primer and Lessons Learned
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides a primer on EMV payment tokenization and describes implementation lessons learned.
• EMV Receipt Best Practices
  This U.S. Payments Forum white paper reviews recommendations and requirements for data elements found on receipts for chip-on-chip transactions
• EMV Testing and Certification White Paper: Current Global Payment Network Requirements for the U.S. Acquiring Community
  The EMV Migration Forum Testing and Certification Working Committee published this updated white paper to define the current processes required to test EMV chip transactions with American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa. The white paper is intended to provide a clear approach to acquirer host and EMV chip terminal testing and certification and includes examples of use cases that identify when testing or retesting is required for EMV chip and contactless terminals, when retesting is recommended as a best practice, and when only standard internal testing is advised.
• EMV Troubleshooting Guide for ATM Owners and Operators
  This U.S. Payments Forum white paper provides guidance for ATM owners/operators to help prevent and troubleshoot common transaction problems.
• Guidelines for Contactless ATM Transactions – A Guide for ATM Owners and Operators. This U.S. Payments Forum white paper provides guidelines and best practices for accepting contactless transactions completed with Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled mobile wallets and contactless-enabled chip cards at the ATM.
• How Emerging Data Elements Can Support Mobile Wallet Use Cases
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides an overview of emerging data elements and their use in face-to-face transactions initiated from non-traditional payment devices.
• Implementing EMV at the ATM
  This EMV Migration Forum white paper provides an educational resource for stakeholders responsible for the implementation of EMV at the ATM in the U.S.
• Implementing EMV at the ATM: PIN Change at the ATM
  This EMV Migration Forum white paper provides guidance provide for ATM owners and issuers who are contemplating implementing PIN change at the ATM as part of, or subsequent to, their U.S. EMV migration.
• Implementing EMV in the U.S.: How the U.S. Common Debit AIDs Facilitate Debit Transaction Routing and Ensure Durbin Compliance
  This video recording provides an overview of the U.S. Common Debit AIDs and how they facilitate debit transaction routing and ensure Durbin compliance.
• Industry Considerations for 8-Digit BIN Migration
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides guidance for industry stakeholders about the introduction of 8-Digit BINs
• Intake Form Terminology for EMV Level 3 POS Certification
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides common definitions of terms used in Level 3 certification intake forms.
• Large Scale Payment Data Breaches Highlight Need for U.S. Card Issuers and Retailers to Move More Quickly to Smart Chip Payment Technology
  This brief discusses the security features of EMV chip payment technology and summarizes how these features strengthen the security of payment transactions.
• Managing Card-Based Tip and Gratuity Payments for EMV Chip
  The U.S. Payments Forum is providing information on how to best manage tips and gratuities as the U.S. migrates to chip, and what options restaurant owners and other merchants in travel and entertainment can pursue.  This document is intended to provide a high-level overview of tip processing in EMV chip environment.
• Merchant and Issuer Error Data Collection Forms
  Payments Forum resource provides a tool for gathering information to determine the source of transaction errors.
• Merchant Processing during Communications Disruption
  This white paper was developed to discuss best practices for merchants processing EMV chip transactions when communications are disrupted. The white paper discusses three processing options: EMV offline authorization; deferred authorization of an EMV card transaction; and force post of an EMV card transaction.
• Mobile Payments Standards Glossary
  This U.S. Payments Forum reference lists standards and standards bodies that are applicable to mobile or contactless payments.
• Optimizing Transaction Speed at the POS
  This U.S. Payments Forum white paper presents on three categories of approaches to help speed transactions and discusses their potential impacts for each stakeholder group in the U.S. payments ecosystem: “Faster EMV” solutions, contactless/Near Field Communication (NFC) transactions, and other EMV checkout optimization practices.  For each category, a detailed description and analysis are presented, including considerations and implications for various stakeholder groups.
• Options for Reducing Level 3 EMV Certification Time for Retailer Systems using Electronic Payment Servers (EPS)
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource discusses solutions to help reduce the implementation time and effort required for the AFD community to meet the October 2020 fraud liability shift deadline.
• Petroleum Industry: EMV FAQ
  This U.S. Payments Forum Petroleum Working Committee resource answers frequently asked questions about EMV chip implementation for petroleum retailers.
• PIN Bypass in the U.S. Market
  The white paper was developed to provide an educational resource on the EMV function of PIN Entry Bypass, how it can be implemented in the U.S. market, other actions that may process transactions allowing selection of cardholder verification method, and how those actions differ from PIN Entry Bypass.
• Signature Best Practices
  This U.S. Payments Forum white paper reviews suggested best practices for capturing and storing signatures on receipts, with input from global and domestic payment networks.
• Technologies for Payment Fraud Prevention: EMV, Encryption and Tokenization
  This white paper describes the role of EMV, encryption and tokenization for securing the payments infrastructure and preventing payment fraud.
• Testing & Certification Terminology
  This U.S. Payments Forum glossary defines terms used in acquirer EMV testing and certification forms.
• Tips for Cleaner Payments
  The U.S. Payments Forum developed this resource to provide practical tips for a “cleaner” payment experience for merchants, ATM owners and consumers.
• Transit Contactless Open Payments: Technical Solution for Pay As You Go
  This U.S. Payments Forum Transit Contactless Open Payments Working Committee resource provides technical solution guidance for implementing transit contactless open payments use cases with contactless EMV cards and NFC-enabled mobile devices
• U.S. Automated Fuel Dispenser Chip Fallback Transaction Processing Best Practices
  This U.S. Payments Forum resource provides guidance on best practices for supporting fallback transactions at the automated fuel dispenser.
• U.S. Debit EMV Technical Proposal
  This EMV Migration Forum white paper defines recommendations for a debit technical framework for the U.S. payments industry.

EMV White Papers

• Contactless EMV Payments: Benefits for Consumers, Merchants and Issuers
  This Smart Card Alliance white paper provides a fresh look at contactless payments in the current U.S. payments environment that is embracing both EMV and NFC-enabled mobile devices.
• Contactless Payments:  Proposed Implementation Recommendations.
  This Secure Technology Alliance white paper discuss the challenges of issuing, accepting and processing ISO/IEC 14443/NFC contactless transactions and to help the market work through pre-EMV and post-EMV challenges to promote contactless issuance and acceptance.
• Contactless Payments Security Q&A
  This Smart Card Alliance Q&A document answers questions about the security of contactless payment transactions.
• Healthcare Identity Authentication and Payments Convergence: A Vision for the Healthcare Industry
  This Smart Card Alliance white paper was developed to outline a vision for healthcare identity authentication and payments convergence and to provide insight into the opportunities and challenges afforded to the healthcare community as the U.S. migrates to EMV.

Card-Not-Present Transactions

• Card-Not-Present Fraud: A Primer on Trends and Transaction Authentication Processes
  This white paper discusses the impact of and need to address card-not-present fraud in conjunction with migration to EMV in the U.S.
• CNP Fraud around the World
  This U.S. Payments Forum white paper reviews the status of CNP fraud in countries that have migrated or are in the process of migrating to EMV. Included are statistics and information for the U.K., France, Australia, Canada and the U.S. from numerous sources.
• Near-Term Solutions to Address the Growing Threat of Card-Not-Present Fraud
  This EMV Migration Forum white paper provides an educational resource on the existing best practices for authentication methods and fraud tools to secure the card-not-present (CNP) channel, given the potential increase in CNP fraud as EMV chip cards replace magnetic stripe only cards in the U.S.

EMV Workshops

• EMV Workshop for VARs, ISVs and ISOs.
  This recorded workshop provides a comprehensive review of chip technology and focused sessions on the development process and implementation best practices.
• How EMV Changes Payment Workshop.
  This video workshop provides an in-depth educational resource to assist issuers, acquirers/processors and merchants plan for EMV migration.

EMV Educational Webinars

• Accepting EMV Chip Payments at the Fuel Pump
  This recorded U.S. Payments Forum webinar provides an overview of EMV chip technology and key considerations for petroleum merchants migrating to EMV.
• Contactless EMV Payments: Issuer Opportunities
  This webinar, hosted by the Smart Card Alliance Payments Council, discusses the opportunities that contactless EMV payments offer to issuers. The webinar answers the most important questions about the adoption of contactless payments, such as: how contactless fits into today’s payment industry; what is different from earlier adoption attempts; and why the ideal time to go contactless is now.
• Contactless EMV Payments: Merchant Opportunities
  This webinar, hosted by the Smart Card Alliance Payments Council, discusses the opportunities that contactless EMV payments offer to merchants. The webinar answers the most important questions about the adoption of contactless payments, such as: how contactless fits into today’s payment industry; what is different from earlier adoption attempts; and why the ideal time to go contactless is now.
• Contactless Open Payments for Transit webinar
• EMV Chargeback Best Practices
  This recorded U.S. Payments Forum webinar discusses the appropriate treatment and mitigation of both counterfeit and lost/stolen chip liability shift chargebacks occurring after the liability shift dates for contact chip cards used in attended transactions.
• EMV for Merchants and Acquirers: U.S. Migration Considerations.
  This webinar provides a primer on EMV for U.S. merchants and acquirers.
• The Evolution of Payment Specifications and Tokenization Webinar Series
  The Smart Card Alliance and EMVCo hosted a two-part webinar series to review the status of payment specifications and tokenization.
• Implementing EMV at the ATM Webinar
  This EMV Migration Forum webinar recording provides a non-technical review of the critical components of the EMV implementation process at ATMs.
• Merchant Considerations for U.S. Chip Migration
  This webinar, held in partnership with the National Retail Federation, will provide guidance to educate merchants on the global use of chip cards, the status of the U.S. migration, considerations for making the decision to accept chip payments, and tools to begin project planning for chip card acceptance implementation.
• Near-Term Solutions to Address the Growing Threat of Card-Not-Present Fraud webinar.
  This recorded webinar discusses the best practices for authentication methods and fraud tools to provide protection of the card-not-present channel.

Payments Industry Resources on EMV

• American Express
• EMVCo
  • A Guide to EMV white paper
  • Worldwide EMV Deployment and Adoption
  • EMV specifications
• Discover
• MasterCard
• Visa
• ACT Canada

Other Forum Resources

• Biometric Payment Cards
  This Secure Technology Alliance white paper provides a primer on biometric payment cards for issuers, issuer processors, payment networks and merchants.
• Contactless Decals for Merchants
  Merchants can order free contactless decals for their POS at this site.
• Dynamic Security Code Cards: A Primer
  This Secure Technology Alliance white paper provides a primer on dynamic security code cards, their benefits for issuers, merchants and cardholders, and implementation impact on payments stakeholders.
• Understanding the True Costs of Fraud
  This U.S. Payments Forum white paper reviews use cases illustrating the hard and soft costs of fraud for consumers, merchants and issuers.

Other Payments Industry Resources

• ATM Industry Association
• Australian Payments Clearing Association fraud statistics
• BITS
• Canadian Bankers Association, Credit Card Fraud and Interac Debit Card Fraud Statistics – Canadian Issued Cards
• Card Payments Roadmap in the U.S.: How Will EMV Impact the Future Payments Infrastructure?,
  white paper with a primer on EMV and actions that need to be taken to issue EMV chip cards and to accept and process EMV chip transactions.
• The Changing U.S. Payments Landscape:  Impact on Payment Transactions at Physical Stores, white paper reviewing new innovations in payment trends and devices.
• Conexxus
• Debit Network Alliance
• Electronic Transactions Assocation (ETA)
• European Central Bank, Fourth Report on Card Fraud
• Federal Reserve System, The 2013 Federal Reserve Payments Study
• Food Marketing Institute
• GlobalPlatform
• Interac
• Merchant Advisory Group
• National Association of Federal Credit Unions
• National ATM Council
• National Restaurant Association
• National Retail Federation
• NACHA
• Observatory for Payment Card Security (France), Annual Report of the Observatory for Payment Card Security
• PCI Security Standards Council
• Smart Card Alliance
• The True Cost of Data Breaches in the Payments Industry, white paper discussing
  the potential costs that could be incurred as a result of a data breach.
• U.K. Cards Association
• U.K. Payments Administration
• U.S. Payments Forum