Regulatory requirements for POS terminals: TA 7.2 and DC POS 3.0

TA 7.2 and DC POS 3.0 terminal certification comes with new requirements for retailers and their POS terminals. This brings along major changes, especially for the widespread contactless payments with girocard.

Why girocard contactless?

girocard contactless is the successful model of the German banking industry and an indispensable part of our everyday lives.

• 95% [1] of the 16- to 69-year-olds in Germany have a girocard, which supports contactless payments since 2017.
• More than 87% [1] of girocard acceptance locations support contactless payments.
• In 2020 there was a strong increase of contactless payments, thereby the share increased to 45% [2].
• Following that the amount, at which a PIN is necessary (CVM Limit) was raised to 50€.
• There are around 100 million girocards in in Germany, of which around 80 million currently support contactless payments. This means that around 80% of girocards in Germany are contactless.
• There are around 871.000 girocard acceptance points in Germany, of which around 755.000 accept contactless girocard payments. This means that girocard holders can make contactless payments at around 87% of the girocard acceptance points.
  

What are the advantages of girocard contactless for retailers?

• Activated by epay no further effort for the merchant necessary to enable contactless payments
• High trust in the well-known girocard and thus also in the integrated contactless feature
• Faster payment without PIN entry required up to 50€
• Hygienic, as there is no physical contact to the POS-Terminal
• Higher customer convenience through more choices of payment forms: contactless payment via girocard or via Apple Pay
• High security standards by usage of worldwide NFC (“Near Field Communication”) standard

Where do the regulatory requirements for terminals come from?

POS terminal regulation for local German debit card (girocard)

The German Banking Industry Committee (GBIC) defines standardized rules, called Technical Annex (TA), for the German payments sector. These rules are given to all certified Network Service Providers (NSP) like epay, and mandatory for the operation of girocard POS terminals.

POS terminal regulation for international credit cards (like Mastercard and Visa)

PCI and EMV standards are issued by the international credit card institutions. They describe the security, technology and functional requirements of the credit card schemes (MasterCard, Visa, etc.) and are mandatory for the acquirers to process credit card transactions.

DC POS – One common POS terminal framework for girocard and credit cards

To provide an efficient and harmonized POS terminal infrastructure in the German market, the GBIC and the German credit card acquirers have agreed on a joint terminal approval procedure. This procedure covers the requirements of the international credit card schemes and the GBIC. The prerequisite is a specification for the payment transaction application that processes debit and credit cards, and girocard. This specification is known as “DC POS”.
DC POS describes the requirements for the POS terminals, both technical and functional. It is defined jointly by the GBIC and the acquirers, taking into account the requirements of the international credit card schemes. With DC POS approval, one terminal can process all cards.
The joint approval procedure based on DC POS specification creates cost-benefit advantages for everyone involved: One specification, one implementation, one functional test leading to multiple type approvals for one and the same terminal.

What is new about TA 7.2 and DC POS 3.0 terminal certification?

Defined by the GBIC, the TA 7.2 mainly contains new requirements for girocard that are not “externally” visible:

• Contactless payments & acceptance of girocards which are stored in mobile wallets: NFC Kernel of POS Terminal changed from Mastercard Kernel to girocard’s own kernel
• New security requirements (key management, new key procedure)
• Cardholder Verification Method (CVM): Limit increase to 50 EUR
• Adjustment in the billing of girocard’s fees (ec-Entgeltabrechnung)
• Contactless tip functionality

DC POS 3.0 incorporates besides the mentioned above new requirements for the girocard also the new requirements of the international credit card organizations and legislators, includes new functionalities for the contactless credit card payments:

• CVM Limit increase to 50 EUR
• Single-tap functionality
• For contactless credit card payments: If PIN entry is required, terminal will ask for PIN without having to insert the card or tap a second time. Thus, the handling of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) for contactless credit card payments is improved
• Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) now also possible for contactless payments
• Partial approval (partial authorization for payment and reservations): This function allows a reduced amount to be processed. This means that the amount of the response can be smaller than the amount from the inquiry. With this it is possible to comfortably process a remaining amount, e.g. with a prepaid credit card.
• Purchase Only: Authorization of the payment amount only for cashback transactions. With this it is possible, when paying with cashback, to only process the purchase for the amount paid. In this case, the cash payment will be refused.

By when are the requirements due?

In order to comply with the new regulations, terminals must be adjusted accordingly.
Starting from 01.01.2022 only TA 7.2/ DC POS 3.0 compliant terminals will be introduced to the market.
To activate the available new functions of the card payments, the software upgrade for the existing terminals will be based on new TA 7.2/DCPOS 3.0 regulations. The terminals which do not support the software upgrade must be replaced by latest 01.01.2025.

Note: 

• Replacement of TA 7.1 compliant POS terminals: We are already experiencing difficulties getting exchange models from the manufacturers. We cannot guarantee exchange and service for every TA 7.1 compliant POS terminal type until 2024, so a quick switch to TA 7.2 is recommended. Your contact person at epay can advise you on the respective situation of your terminal and set a timeline together. 

• The TA 7.1 compliant POS terminals cannot support the new functionalities such as DCC contactless, single tap and partial authorization. If these functionalities are required before January 1st, 2025, you must also switch to TA7.2 compliant POS terminals.

Which terminals are affected?

POS terminals without possibilities to get upgrade that need to be replaced with TA 7.2/ DC POS 3.0 compliant POS terminals:

• Ingenico Telium iCT
• Ingenico Telium iWL
• Ingenico Teilium iPP
• CCV Vx520
• CCV Go
• Verifone H5000

What does this mean for you as an epay customer?

We are of course available to advise you on such changes. We are very familiar with the requirements and will find the right solution for you.

[1] girocard.eu

[2] EHI

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