EPC published the SEPA Cards Standardisation Volume ready for market implementation

All stakeholders and interested parties active in the SEPA cards domain are encouraged to roll out services and products in line with the new requirements published by EPC in a three-year period, i.e. by January 2017. This means: the SCS Volume requirements for card-present transactions are to be met for new cards and terminals being introduced in the market as from 2017.

On 7 January 2014, the European Payments Council (EPC), representing the European banking industry in relation to payments, together with the Cards Stakeholders Group (CSG) published version 7.0 of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Cards Standardisation Volume (the SCS Volume), ready for market implementation. Tge document is a major achievement reflecting a unique multi-stakeholder effort in the area of cards, according to EPC.

This document defines a standard set of requirements to ensure an interoperable and scalable card and terminal infrastructure across SEPA, based on open international card standards. The SCS Volume does not establish specifications or standards as such, but rather sets (functional and security) standardisation requirements, which refer to existing international standards established by, for example, ISO (International Organization for Standardization), EMVCo (initially Europay MasterCard Visa) and PCI SCC (Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council).

The CSG is a multi-stakeholder body representing retailers, vendors, processors, card schemes and the EPC. Created in 2009, the CSG develops and maintains the SCS Volume, and focuses on a cards standardisation programme that will create a better, safer, more cost efficient and functionally richer card services environment, whatever the card product or scheme may be.

Following the public consultation on the provisionary version 6.5 of the SCS Volume in June and July 2013, the CSG has processed more than 2,000 comments received from market participants. The six books of the SCS Volume version 7.0 cover a set of requirements applicable to card-present (face-to-face) transactions to allow investment decisions and implementation based on stable requirements.

All stakeholders and interested parties active in the SEPA cards domain are encouraged to roll out services and products in line with the requirements set out in version 7.0 of the SCS Volume in a three-year period, i.e. by January 2017. This means: the SCS Volume requirements for card-present transactions are to be met for new cards and terminals being introduced in the market as from 2017.

For detailed information and to download the documentation pertaining to the SCS Volume version 7.0, refer to this dedicated EPC Website page: SEPA Cards Standardisation Volume Version7.0 Published in 2014 Ready for Market Implementation