4 Considerations For Developing Your EMV Transition Strategy

As VARs and ISVs work with their clients on solutions to transition to systems ready for EMV — a global standard for authenticating debit and credit card transactions — there are four important things to consider

By Roy Bricker, SVP, Product, Element Payment Services

Know The Critical Dates:  October 2015 Liability Shift. October 2015 marks a significant date in the world of payments. In the next step to further incentivize EMV adoption in the U.S., major card brands will officially shift liability for fraudulent EMV card-present transactions to favor merchants using EMV-enabled devices. Merchants that process Visa transactions using EMV-enabled devices will not be liable for fraudulent card-present transactions that have resulted from counterfeit credit cards. Additionally, if at least 95 percent of total MasterCard transactions are performed using EMV-enabled devices, liability is also shifted away from the merchant. This liability shift is incremental to previous actions taken by the major card brands to support the EMV standard. In October of 2012, Visa began offering merchants PCI Audit Relief, allowing them to apply for relief from the audit requirement for PCI compliance if more than 75 percent of transactions processed originate from EMV-compliant devices.

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