Technical services and standards
The UK Cards Association offers a range of technical expertise and support to its members. We work to ensure that card payment systems remain both reliable and secure. Our technical team works with members resolve any industry-level, operational incidents that arise within the payment cards infrastructure.
Our technical services covers:
Approval and accreditation schemes
The UK Cards Association operates a number of accreditation and approval schemes, namely:
Card Protection Agency accreditation scheme
Card Protection Agencies provide consumers with a card registration service. In the event that their cards are lost or stolen, the consumer can stop their registered card and order replacements.
The UK Cards Association ensures that those Card Protection Agencies seeking accreditation meet minimum-security requirements for the safe storage, processing and handling of valuable cardholder data.
PIN mailer security accreditation scheme
The UK Cards Association maintains a security standard for bank card PIN mailers used in the UK, and operates an accreditation scheme for PIN mailer stationery and PIN mailer printing services. The aim of the scheme is to ensure that PIN mailers are secure.
External laboratories are used for evaluating PIN mailer products and services. The UK Cards Association accredits suppliers who meet the scheme's requirements and whose products and services are successfully evaluated. For a list of accredited suppliers, products and services, see the PIN Mailer Accreditations link located on the right hand side of this page. Suppliers can make enquiries by emailing pinmailer@ukcards.org.uk.
PIN entry device protection profile common criteria evaluation
Our members have adopted as policy a requirement that all PIN entry devices installed in the UK should be evaluated against a Protection Profile, in accordance with Common Criteria (ISO 15408-1:1999) procedures. In order to facilitate this policy The UK Cards Association maintains a Protection Profile for a PIN Entry Device, which itself has been evaluated and certified under the Common Criteria.
For a list of the vendors and products that have been evaluated under the Common Criteria against the APACS PED Protection Profile see the Common Criteria Evaluation useful link (located on the right hand side of this page).
Back to topCard standards
Historically APACS has had a very successful history of developing and maintaining a range of payment-related standards. Its remit for standards was broad and included responsibility for:
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Electronic payments such as CHAPS, Faster Payments and BACS;
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Cards, PINs and card payments;
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Cheques and credits ; and
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Security
Going forward, The UK Cards Association, together with its members, will continue to co-ordinate and participate in the development and enhancement of those standards required by the UK card payments industry.
Furthermore we represent UK interests on card standards matters at both domestic and international forums including the British Standards Institute (BSI), the International Standards Organisation (ISO), EMVCo and PCI-Security Standards Council (SSC), and the European Payments Council (the body tasked with delivering SEPA – the Single Euro Payments Area – by the European Central Bank and the European Commission).
We distribute standards via the UK Payments website. To find out more about the full range of standards that are available and/or to purchase any, please see
http://www.ukpayments.org.uk/payments_industry/industry_standards/
Our test lab
Our payment card test lab was originally set up during the Chip and PIN rollout as a central location for interoperability testing. This facility proved to be incredibly useful, and as a result it has been retained as a convenient and central resource for issuers and other interested parties to test card products in a near live environment.
Testing can be carried out on wide variety of bank-owned terminals from the major UK merchant acquirers and at any one time approximately 30 terminals are available for testing – including contactless devices. We work with UK acquirers to ensure that the stock is updated on a regular basis and that the lab continues to be an excellent representation of the devices currently deployed across UK retailers.
