EMVCo Releases Draft EMV Secure Remote Commerce Specs

To open its EMV® Secure Remote Commerce (SRC) specification for public comment for a 45-day period, secure payments enabler EMVCo has issued a draft version of the specification called version 0.9. The organization wants to allow merchants, payment networks and card issuers, among other payment industry participants, to contribute to version 1.0, which will be released next year, the company said in an announcement.

“Given the high levels of industry interest in the EMV SRC initiative, EMVCo is publishing a draft specification for wider comment before releasing the official 1.0 version,” EMVCo’s Executive Committee Chair Stephanie Ericksen said in the announcement. “This allows us to expand on the feedback received to date from EMVCo associates and subscribers on the specification development, to help ensure that the EMV SRC specification addresses the needs of stakeholders across the industry.”

The finalized version 1.0 is expected to define interfaces for the secure exchange of payment data and accommodate the use of dynamic data, such as cryptograms. In addition, the specification is also expected to enable compatibility with technologies such as EMV 3-D Secure and EMV Payment Tokenisation, while facilitating recognition of a common user experience by consumers via an SRC Mark.

The news comes a few months after EMVCo announced the launch of the full EMV 3-D Secure (EMV 3DS) test platform in August. The platform allows 3DS product providers to confirm that their solutions will perform in accordance with the EMV 3-D Secure Protocol and Core Functions specification v2.1.0, or its EMV 3-D Secure – SDK specification. Clients will also receive letters of approval from EMVCo.

EMVCo is collectively owned by American Express, Discover, JCB, Mastercard, UnionPay and Visa, and focuses on the technical advancement of the EMV specifications. 3DS is a messaging protocol that allows consumers to authenticate themselves with their card issuer when making card-not-present eCommerce purchases. Its features promote more secure and consistent online transactions across channels and connected devices, while optimizing the cardholder’s experience. Last year, EMVCo revealed that 58.9 percent of card present transactions, measured globally, were EMV chip-enabled.