Standards
The ISO 7816 series of standards and the ETSI
SCP standards are the most important and relevant for SmartCard application
programmers. ISO stands for the International Standards Organization while
ETSI stands for the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. There
are several other standards as well:
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ISO 7810 - Identification cards (Physical characteristics)
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ISO/IEC 7812 - Identification of issuers.
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ISO/IEC 10536 - Identification Cards (Contactless)
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ISO/IEC 10373 - Identification cards (Test methods)
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ISO/IEC 14443 - Remote-coupling communication cards (Contactless)
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ISO TC 68 - Banking and related financial services
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EN 742 - Identification cards
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EN 726 Terminal Equipment (TE) - Requirements for IC cards and terminals
for telecommunication use. The standard is the technical basis for SmartCards
in Europe.
The last two standards are issued by the European Committee for Standardization
(CEN). In particular, EN 726 is a tribute to the major role that telecommunications
companies in Europe played in the early days of Smart Card Technology.
Smart Cards are becoming increasingly important in banking and e-commerce,
thanks largely to the EMV standard defined in 1994 by Mastercard and its
European subsidiary Europay, and Visa. Recently,
a European-issued SmartCard was used in chip terminals in South America
for payment.
References