Best Practice for the Issuance and Acceptance of Dual Interface Cards

Best Practice Memo No.2 First Edition February 2010 Best Practice for the Issuance and Acceptance of Dual Interface Cards EMVCo has identified a potential issue related to the issuance and acceptance of dual interface cards. It is important that the relevant product vendors be alerted of this, and follow the best practices described below to prevent reoccurrence of the issues. Summary of the issue A review of existing field issues shows that at times some dual interface cards shut down the contact interface when the card detects certain interference from radio frequencies. This best practice alerts the product vendors that this should be taken into account when developing products. Impacted Market Global Severity Medium

Related Documents

This Bulletin should be read in conjunction with:

• Interoperability Working Group Issues List (Issue #I0078/#I0080) Best Practices: Entity Chip/Card Manufacturers Device Manufacturers Best Practice Chip/Card manufacturers should be aware that there are many sources of RF radiation or interference in the environment, such as contactless readers, mobile phones, wireless modems, and so on, and design the contact chip interface accordingly. Cards with contactless antennas will be sensitive to RF radiation and a certain level of coupling with these RF Radiations is likely to occur in normal card operating conditions. Cards should not shut down the contact interface simply because they detect RF interference. Device manufacturers should take to care to shield the contact chip readers (IFMs) from sources of RF radiation, such as contactless readers or wireless modems even if designing a contact only device.