EMVCo Introduces New Participation Opportunities
EMVCo, the EMV standards body collectively owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa, has launched a new participation framework that will allow all payment industry stakeholders to play a more active role in guiding the organisation’s strategic and technical direction. This new framework creates opportunities for interested organisations, including payment card issuers, acquirers, merchants, processors, card and terminal vendors, networks and their representative associations, to provide input into the enhancement of existing and creation of future EMV specifications for payment technologies.
The standards body has introduced two new participation types, allowing organisations to become either a business associate or a technical associate. Organisations that meet qualifying criteria for both types may participate at both levels.
Business associates, such as payment card issuers and acquirers, networks and their representative associations, will have the opportunity to provide EMVCo with input on strategic business and implementation issues related to the use of the EMV Specifications. Organisations participating at this level will have a seat on the EMVCo board of advisors, giving them the opportunity to communicate with senior EMVCo representatives on EMV’s future direction. The annual fee is US$12,500.
Technical associates will have the opportunity to provide input and receive feedback on detailed technical and operational issues connected to the EMV specifications and related processes. Intended to appeal to any industry stakeholder with an interest in EMV, this participation type also provides organisations with the opportunity to interact with EMVCo’s technical working groups via quarterly workshops, offer input to meeting agendas, submit technical contributions to EMVCo, and gain early access to draft specifications and other technical documents. A higher annual fee of US$25,000 reflects the increased cost and value of access to the EMVCo working groups.
Art Kranzley, chair of the EMVCo executive committee, said: “EMV has become the global payment industry standard with an increasing number of stakeholders worldwide. Therefore, it makes sense to broaden the industry’s involvement in EMVCo’s standardisation efforts. By introducing the two new participation types, EMVCo hopes to encourage industry players to engage in EMVCo as a standards organisation. This development is a very positive advancement for the industry and will help to further facilitate the global adoption of EMV through increased accessibility and understanding of the technology.”