PROJECT RESULTS EPAS (ITEA 05008) •••••••••••••••• Card-based protocols Ensuring interoperability of electronics payments Partners Atos Worldline ( and across and globally ) BP ••••••••••••••••••••••••• CETREL Equens Galitt payments industry in Europe. A Groupement des Cartes crucial element is the harmonisation Bancaires (CB) of the billions of electronic retail Hypercom payments made with debit and Integri credit cards. Lyra Network PAN Nordic Card Association Such harmonisation requires PayLife issuers, acquirers, card schemes Retail Services Company (RSC) and operators to adapt to the SEPA Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) card framework. Key features are SERMEPA cardholders can pay with one card SIBS all over the euro area, and retailers Wincor Nixdorf International Simplifying card payments Europe wide will be able to accept all SEPA (photo: Joël Gavy) cards in a single terminal. As a Associate partners result, payment-card processors American Express Services EPAS set out to overcome will be able to compete and to Europe obstacles to the interoperability offer services throughout the euro Gemalto of electronic payments schemes area. This will make the market for Logic Group in the single European market. processing card payments more Mellon Technologies It developed and demonstrated reliable and cost efficient. Monext three major card-based protocols Point International built on open and interoperable To avoid unnecessary legislation, POS Partner standards to support the banks, retailers, vendors, services Quercia (Unicredit Group) Scheidt & Bachmann successful creation of the providers, card schemes and Servebase users teamed up in the Electronic Single Euro Payments Area VeriFone (SEPA). The same approach Protocol Application Software Visa Europe is now being made available (EPAS) initiative to deliver the worldwide through an ISO 20022 necessary standards to meet the standardisation process. need for Community-wide payment Countries involved standards by 2010. The European banking industry, Belgium the European Central Bank and Creating necessary conditions the worked To reach SEPA’s objectives, EPAS Germany together to create SEPA. This will had to: Greece enable consumers, businesses and • Involve key stakeholders in public administrations to make and card-payment, manufacturing receive payments in euro between and software-development The and within countries under the services; Scandinavian & Baltic countries same conditions anywhere in the • Clearly identify the business area. Users will be able to make requirements; and cashless payments from domestic • Ensure a universal solution that accounts to anywhere within SEPA. could subsequently become the worldwide standard for Integrating the market for payment interoperable payments by Start of the project services required removal of all cards. March 2006 technical, legal and commercial barriers between fragmented Overall, the ITEA project has national payment markets. By delivered a series of specifications End of the project developing and using open and that will enable a smooth migration October 2008 common standards, SEPA will from today’s non-interoperable and foster an efficient and competitive proprietary solutions with dedicated ITEA 2 Office PROJECT RESULTS High Tech Campus 69 - 3 5656 AG Eindhoven The Netherlands Tel : +31 88 003 6136 interfaces to an open environment payment-terminal solutions could Fax : +31 88 003 6130 based on interoperable hardware be interconnected with acquirer Email : [email protected] and software components from protocol systems supplied by Atos Web : www.itea2.org different manufacturers. Worldline, an issuer simulator from  Experian, a TMS protocol from This involved developing three SRC and retailer protocol systems major elements for point-of- from Scheidt & Bachmann and interaction transactions: Wincor-Nixdorf. GALITT and Integri ITEA - Information Technology 1. A terminal management provided software simulators for for European Advancement - system (TMS) for data transfer, this demonstration environment. is an eight-year strategic including encryption, and pan-European programme for maintenance to ensure easier Universal specifications pre-competitive research and administration and suitable EPAS resulted in standardised development in embedded and security; universal specifications free of distributed software. Our work 2. A retailer protocol covering royalty and/or charges. Based has major impact on government, administrative, payment- on the collective work of key academia and business. service and device-service stakeholders in the European exchanges that ensures a clear card-payment industry, this ITEA was established in 1999 separation between sales and initiative makes possible a single, as a EUREKA strategic cluster payment functions, removes common solution on various programme. We support dependencies between payment platforms provided by global coordinated national funding services and products, and key-terminal manufacturers and submissions, providing the link offers a common protocol for solutions providers. A dedicated between those who provide all types of architectures and legal structure will ensure further finance, technology and environments; and evolution and maintenance of the software engineering. We issue 3. An acceptor-acquirer protocol specifications and standards. annual Calls for Projects, covering authorisation, evaluate projects, and help completion, rejection, Standardisation will continue bring research partners reconciliation, diagnostic and in ISO 20022. Availability of an together. We are a prominent service exchanges to provide EPAS ISO 200222 standard will player in European software a single common solution for enable global acceptance and development with some 10,000 multiple acquirers, remove local ensure convergence with payment person-years of R&D invested and regional constraints, and standards already developed for in the programme so far. embed security. credit transfers and direct debits. As a result, banks and users will ITEA-labelled projects build The EPAS standard was be able progressively to reduce the crucial middleware and prepare presented in Paris in November gap between card and non-card standards, laying the foundations 2008. Partners Ingenico and payment processes based on a for the next generation of Hypercom demonstrated how their common industry-led solution. products, systems, appliances and services. Our projects are industry-driven initiatives, Major project outcomes involving complementary R&D from at least two companies in Dissemination two countries. Our programme The outcome of the EPAS Project has been widely disseminated during Cartes’ 2008, the world’s exhibition dealing with cards, terminals and their associated is open to partners from large applications. A common communication and several demonstrations were held on industrial companies, small and the booths of participants in the EPAS Consortium. medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as public research Exploitation Exploitation of the protocols have already been planned by several partners, institutes and universities. namely members of the card payment industry willing to start pilots on an international level.

Standardisation EPAS is the very first card initiative worldwide endorsed by ISO 20022 to issue standards following the specifications of this international norm. First drafts of the EPAS standards are expected to be issued by year end (2009).

Spin-offs The EPAS Management Board has decided to set up a dedicated legal structure Σ! 2023 in Brussels in the form of an International Non-Profit Organisation (AISBL) to ensure the evolution of the standard, especially in the framework of ISO 20022. The proposed EPASOrg new structure will also ensure an adequate protection of October 2009 the Intellectual Property Rights generated in the project.