SB n° 325 Updates to Book C-8

EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 First Edition, May 2026 Updates to EMV® Contactless Book C-8 – Kernel 8 Specification Applicability This Specification Bulletin applies to: • EMV Contactless Specifications for Payment Systems, Book C-8, Kernel 8 Specification, version 1.1, June 2023 Related Documents • EMV Specification Bulletin No. 302 • EMV Specification Bulletin No. 310 Effective Date: • 1 July 2026 Description This specification bulletin contains clarifications and corrections to Book C-8, Kernel 8 Specification. (These are in addition to clarifications and corrections published in SB 302 and SB 310.) Details of Changes This specification bulletin discusses changes to the following topics: A. Removal of “Service Code” B. Clarification of “DECRYPTION FAILED” signal C. Clarification of the length of “Proceed to First Write Flag” D. Add length requirement checks E. Clarification of allowed 'Version' in Card Qualifier F. Clarification of Compute Time Taken G. AIP Key Yellow highlights existing text with areas of addition or change. © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 1 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 Blue highlights existing text to be deleted. Red text indicates final text; that is, text that has been changed or inserted. First Edition A. Removal of “Service Code” In Section A.2, Table A.37: Change: Delete the row for tag '5F30', Service Code. '5F30' Service Code © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 2 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 B. Clarification of “DECRYPTION FAILED” signal Change: Change Figure 6.5 as shown below: First Edition S20 - B IsNotEmpty(TagOf(AFL)) AND IsNotEmpty(TagOf(AIP)) AND IsNotEmpty(TagOf(Card Key Data)) AND (IsNotEmpty(TagOf(CDOL1)) OR IsNotEmpty(TagOf(Default CDOL1)))? 20.18 TRUE FALSE 20.19 'L2' in Error Indication := CARD DATA MISSING (IsNotEmpty(TagOf(CDOL1))? 20.20 FALSE TRUE 20.21 CDOL1 := Default CDOL1 20.22 * GPO PRIVACY (Card Key Data) 20.23 Initialise Active AFL S202122232425 - E * Note: Blinded Key Recovery can be performed after GAC only when the terminal does not support DE/DS 'Relay resistance protocol enabled' in Kernel Configuration is set AND 'Relay resistance protocol is supported' in AIP is set ? 20.24 FALSE 20.25 TRUE 'Relay resistance performed' in TVR := RRP NOT PERFORMED S2021 - C S2021 - A © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 3 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 Change: Change Figure 6.17 as shown below: S28 – Waiting for IAD MAC Results First Edition 28.1 IAD MAC OK (Issuer Application Data MAC) 28.2 IAD MAC FAIL 28.18 DECRYPTION FAILED ('Copy IAD MAC in IAD' in Application Interchange Profile = 01b) OR ('Copy IAD MAC in IAD' in Application Interchange Profile = 10b) 28.3 FALSE 28.5 'L2' in Error Indication := IAD MAC FAILED 28.19 'L2' in Error Indication := DECRYPTION FAILED TRUE 28.4 IAD MAC offset valid ? FALSE TRUE 28.6 Copy Issuer Application Data MAC in Issuer Application Data S28 - A S28 - B S28 - C © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 4 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 C. Clarification of the length of “Proceed to First Write Flag” In Section A.1.103, Proceed to First Write Flag: Change: To: Length: Length: 1 var. up to 1 First Edition D. Add length requirement checks In Section 4.1.3, UpdateWithDetData(Terminal Sent Data): Change: UpdateWithDetData(Terminal Sent Data) 3 Copies all incoming data (Terminal Sent Data) to the TLV Database if update conditions allow. Individual data objects contained within lists in Terminal Sent Data are not stored in the database. FOR every TLV in Terminal Sent Data { IF [IsKnown(T) AND update conditions of T include DET Signal] THEN Store LV in the TLV Database for tag T ENDIF } IF [Terminal Sent Data includes Tags To Read] THEN AddListToList(Tags To Read, Tags To Read Yet) ENDIF IF [Terminal Sent Data includes Data Envelopes To Write] THEN AddListToList(Data Envelopes To Write, Data Envelopes To Write Yet) ENDIF To: UpdateWithDetData(Terminal Sent Data) 3 Copies all incoming data (Terminal Sent Data) to the TLV Database if update © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 5 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 First Edition conditions allow. Individual data objects contained within lists in Terminal Sent Data are not stored in the database. FOR every TLV in Terminal Sent Data { IF [IsKnown(T) AND update conditions of T include DET Signal AND (L is within the range specified by the Length field of the data object with tag T in the Data Dictionary OR L is within the range specified by Length field of the data object with tag T in the Proprietary Tags)] THEN Store LV in the TLV Database for tag T ENDIF } IF [Terminal Sent Data includes Tags To Read] THEN AddListToList(Tags To Read, Tags To Read Yet) ENDIF IF [Terminal Sent Data includes Data Envelopes To Write] THEN AddListToList(Data Envelopes To Write, Data Envelopes To Write Yet) ENDIF In Section 6.3.2, State 1 – Idle: Change: 1.12 Add the transaction data provided in the ACT Signal to the TLV Database: FOR every TLV in Sync Data { IF [T ≠ TagOf(File Control Information Template)] THEN IF [IsKnown(T) AND update conditions of T include ACT Signal] THEN Store LV in the TLV Database for tag T ENDIF © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 6 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 First Edition ENDIF } To: 1.12 Add the transaction data provided in the ACT Signal to the TLV Database: FOR every TLV in Sync Data { IF [T ≠ TagOf(File Control Information Template)] THEN IF [IsKnown(T) AND update conditions of T include ACT Signal AND (L is within the range specified by the Length field of the data object with tag T in the Data Dictionary OR L is within the range specified by Length field of the data object with tag T in the Proprietary Tags)] THEN Store LV in the TLV Database for tag T ENDIF ENDIF } © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 7 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 E. Clarification of allowed 'Version' in Card Qualifier In Section 6.3.2, State 1 – Idle, Figure 6.3, Step 1.8: First Edition Change: To: IsNotEmpty(TagOf(DF Name)) AND IsNotEmpty(TagOf(Card Qualifier)) AND 'Version' in Card Qualifier '00' IsNotEmpty(TagOf(DF Name)) AND IsNotEmpty(TagOf(Card Qualifier)) AND 'Version' in Card Qualifier = '02' F. Clarification of Compute Time Taken In Section 6.3.5, State 21 – Waiting for GPO Response: Change: 21.11 Compute Time Taken as the difference between current time in microseconds and Start Time. To: 21.11 Compute Time Taken as the difference between current time in microseconds and Start Time. Alternatively, the stop time or the Time Taken may be provided directly by the PCD of the terminal. The method by which Time Taken is exchanged between the PCD and the terminal is implementation-specific. In Section 6.3.6, States 20 and 21 – Common Processing: Change: 2021.13 Store current time in microseconds in Start Time To: 2021.13 Store current time in microseconds in Start Time This step can be bypassed if the time measurement of the ERRD Command is performed by the PCD of the terminal or if the start time is provided by the PCD. © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 8 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 G. AIP In Annex A.1.14, the Description for AIP: First Edition Change: To: Indicates the capabilities of the Card to support specific functions in the application. The Application Interchange Profile is returned in the response message of the GET PROCESSING OPTIONS command. Indicates the capabilities of the Card to support specific functions in the application. The Application Interchange Profile is returned in the response message of the GET PROCESSING OPTIONS command. The following is the AIP used for Kernel-8. The AIPs for contact kernel and other contactless kernels are defined in each relevant Book. © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 9 Draft EMV® Specification Bulletin No. 325 First Edition Legal Notice The EMV® Specifications are provided “AS IS” without warranties of any kind, and EMVCo neither assumes nor accepts any liability for any errors or omissions contained in these Specifications. EMVCO DISCLAIMS ALL REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AS TO THESE SPECIFICATIONS. EMVCo makes no representations or warranties with respect to intellectual property rights of any third parties in or in relation to the Specifications. EMVCo undertakes no responsibility to determine whether any implementation of the EMV® Specifications may violate, infringe, or otherwise exercise the patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret, know-how, or other intellectual property rights of third parties, and thus any person who implements any part of the EMV® Specifications should consult an intellectual property attorney before any such implementation. Without limiting the foregoing, the Specifications may provide for the use of public key encryption and other technology, which may be the subject matter of patents in several countries. Any party seeking to implement these Specifications is solely responsible for determining whether its activities require a license to any such technology, including for patents on public key encryption technology. EMVCo shall not be liable under any theory for any party’s infringement of any intellectual property rights in connection with the EMV® Specifications © 2026 EMVCo, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction, distribution and other use of this document is permitted only pursuant to the applicable agreement between the user and EMVCo found at www.emvco.com. EMV® is a registered trademark or trademark of EMVCo, LLC in the United States and other countries. Page 10