The European Payments Council (EPC) has released the final draft of its Mobile Contactless SEPA Card Payments Interoperability Implementation Guidelines for public consultation and the payments organisation is calling on the industry to provide feedback by 17 June 2011.
The new guidelines provide a description of the mobile contactless payments ecosystem today and the stakeholders involved, with the aim of providing a clear understanding of the technology available and its deployment within the market.
NFC-based proximity mobile payments, which allow consumers to make payments at POS using their mobile devices, will hopefully become a reality in the next year or two, at least in select markets. Right now chip manufacturers and handset manufacturers are busy producing NFC hardware, but most agree that the soft side (the business side) of the issue is most challenging. The EPC is hoping to “enable the quick development and implementation of mobile solutions” by:
• Promoting the use of open standards, which will avoid market fragmentation and the deployment of proprietary solutions with limited geographical reach.
• Providing transparency to market participants by clarifying the roles of key stakeholders.
• Stating the position and responsibilities of the EPC in relation to other industry bodies.
• Defining the adequate level of security for the whole mobile contactless payment value chain in order to establish confidence in this environment.
The draft EPC NFC Mobile Payment Guidelines can be downloaded here: http://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.e…fm?news_id=195
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