Tag Archives: type approval

Update to Discover’s contactless specification

Discover Financial Services have released new bulletins last summer – TAS 003 & TAS 004, to update their contactless specification.

New functional test cases related to these bulletins are integrated into the test plan v1.2, and will be applicable as of April 15^th 2020.

The updates are related to Online PIN, transit transaction types and tokenization.

Payment terminal providers must implement the two bulletins mentioned above and should operate a pre-testing campaign accordingly, before submitting their product to DPAS contactless Terminal Type Approval. For more information, visit Discover website,

To stay informed of current specifications or test plan versions requested during Terminal Type Approvals feel free to contact us at : info@alcineo.com.

EMV® Contact Level 2 – test plan update

EMVCo has released all the documentation related to the update of EMV® Contact Level 2 test plan. Starting January 1^st 2020, contact capable terminal providers can submit their devices to Contact Level 2 v4.3i type approval.

EMVCo has planned a migration period during which product providers can still submit their products to be certified against the 4.3h version :

ICS shall be registered and Official testing session in an accredited laboratory shall start before February 29^th
Test report and Request For Approval shall be submitted to EMVCo at the latest on the 30^th of May 2020

The Test Plan, Test Cases and ICS related to version 4.3i are available on EMVCo website.

If you need further information on payment specifications updates and certification processes, feel free to contact us at : info@alcineo.com

Visa Contactless ICS update

Last October, Visa Approval Services released a new version of the Device Questionnaire for Visa Contactless Approval which is available on Visa Technology Partners website.

Among changes, approval services have added :

new option to select EMV® 3.0 as a choice for EMV® Level 1 Contactless Communication Protocol in section 6 – EMV and Visa Specification Information
new accredited laboratories in the Test Laboratories section.

Terminal vendors submitting their products to Visa Contactless type approval must verify that they submit the latest version of ICS (Implementation Conformance Statement) for review to Visa Approval Services.

For more information on specifications or documentation up-to-date versions, feel free to contact us at : info@alcineo.com

Activation of JCB 1.4 contactless

The activation of JCB 1.4 contactless Type Approval is effective since end of September 2019.
Terminal providers shall now submit their products to JCB contactless v1.4 certification process, using the related documentation : TA test program requirements 1.5 and JCB 1.4 Implementation Conformance Statement.
The sunset for accepting Type Approval requests for JCB v1.3 based terminal is end of March 2020, and end of March 2022 for renewal TA requests.
Contact your Alcinéo representative to obtain further information on JCB implementation and type approval process : info@alcineo.com

Keep in touch with us and stay tuned with global payment industry updates.

Interac Flash v1.6

Interac Flash v1.6 for all contactless terminals

A few months ago, Interac had released a specification update for the certification of payment terminals applicable in the transit sector only.

Interac has published earlier this month the relevant documentation such as ICS or product registration form in v1.6.

From now on, all type of contactless capable terminals submitted to type approval with Interac Flash shall integrate the IF Level 2 kernel version 1.6.

Feel free to contact us for further information at : info@alcineo.com.

EMV® Contact updates

Several documents have been released by EMVCo to announce changes and updates regarding the approval process of contact terminals.

During Level 1 renewal, electrical tests and protocol tests are mandatory, whereas mechanical tests are not. The protocol test cases have been updated, and some of them are applicable depending on the ICS. EMVCo has released a new version of ICS v4.3c reflecting these test cases updates.

EMVCo has also released a Specification Bulletin introducing a change for terminal clock signal frequency.

Starting January 2022, new terminals submitted to type approval shall have a minimum of 4.7 and maximum of 5 MHz clock signal frequency.

Products submitted to renewal from January 2022 shall have a minimum of 3.1 and maximum of 5 MHz clock signal frequency.

All the type approval and specification bulletins are available on EMVCo website.

Go to our EMV Contact suite web page to find more information related to our EMV contact libraries.

Feel free to contact your Alcinéo representative, or send a request to : info@alcineo.com.

JCB contactless 1.4 certification starting in September

JCB has announced the specification update of their contactless kernel from 1.3 to 1.4 and issued a set of documentation and bulletins to prepare the kernel update (Including bulletin 007).

Starting next September, contactless terminal providers will have the ability to certify their readers against JCB v1.4 at accredited laboratories.

Both versions 1.3 and 1.4 will be accepted for type approval until sunset of version 1.3 in August 2020.

For further information on payment software and security solutions, do not hesitate to contact your Alcinéo representative or request information at : info@alcineo.com

Expresspay v4.0.2 certification is available

American Express has recently released an update of Expresspay contactless kernel.

Starting May 27th 2019, payment terminal providers can submit their products supporting ExpressPay v.4.0.2 to Level 2 certification at accredited laboratories.

Vendors can choose to certify their product against either version, as both are accepted by American Express, with no sunset date established for v3.1 at the moment.

To have more information on our software and services including support with certification processes, please contact your Alcinéo representative or keep in touch at : info@alcineo.com

VCAS validation tool update v1.1.1

Visa released last week an update of the VCAS validation tool v1.1.1. The latest version brings improvements and corrections to minor issues. The validation tool checks that VCAS is correctly implemented and works properly.

VCAS is a tool that terminal manufacturers must deliver to the laboratory to perform Cross tests automatically, as part of PayWave type approval process. This automated testing process shortens the duration of testing sessions. To obtain more details on VCAS, have a look HERE, at our post released last year and dedicated to this subject.

The validation tool v1.1.1 can be used to validate either VCAS version 1.5 or 1.6. As of 15^th June 2019, only v1.6 will be accepted by laboratories to perform Visa Cross tests.

Feel free to contact your Alcinéo representative to have more information, or keep in touch with us at : info@alcineo.com.

EMV® contact Level 2 version 4.3h available

In bulletin TTA 218, EMVCo announces the release of the new EMV® contact Level 2 test plan, version 4.3h.

The new test plan is applicable starting January 1st 2019 in all accredited laboratories. During the migration period, vendors can submit their products with the 4.3g version.

Starting March 1st 2019, EMV L2 ICS shall be submitted with the 4.3h test plan version. The bulletin detailing effective dates is available on EMVCo website.

Alcinéo provides EMV contact kernels compliant with the latest test plan version, and support our clients to fill-in Implementation Conformance Statements accordingly.

For more information on the latest EMV test plan versions available, please contact your Alcinéo representative, or send us your inquiry at : info@alcineo.com