The European Payments Council and the Cards Stakeholders Group have published version 7.0 of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Cards Standardisation Volume (SCS volume). The SCS volume contains a standard set of requirements to ensure an interoperable and scalable card and terminal infrastructure across SEPA, based on open international card standards. However, the SCS volume does not establish specifications or standards as such, but rather sets (functional and security) standardisation requirements, which refer to existing international standards.

Version 7.0 of the SCS volume consists of the following:

  • Book 1 – general. This contains an introduction to the content and structure of the SCS volume, explaining how the document has changed and the maintenance process;
  • Book 2 – functional requirements. This contains requirements applicable to transactions initiated with a card, which result in the provision of different services to the cardholder;
  • Book 3 – data elements. This supports the card message standards defined by the International Organisation for Standardization and its data has been made available on a separate spreadsheet;
  • Book 4 – security requirements. This defines requirements in order to achieve a single common set of SEPA card security requirements and technical specifications;
  • Book 5 – conformance verification processes. This defines the methods that allow verification of conformance with the SCS volume requirements of a given card or terminal product or device; and
  • Book 6 – implementation guidelines. This describes how stakeholders shall implement some or all of the volume requirements, as appropriate for their business needs.

All stakeholders active in the SEPA cards domain are encouraged to introduce services and products in line with the SCS volume by January 2017.

View SEPA cards standardisation volume version 7.0 published in 2014 ready for market implementation, 7 January 2014

View Book 1 – General, 12 December 2013

View Book 2 – Functional requirements, 12 December 2013

View Book 3 – Data elements, 12 December 2013

View ISO spreadsheet, 7 January 2014

View Book 4: Security requirements, 12 December 2013

View Book 5: Conformance verification processes, 12 December 2013

View Book 6: Implementation guidelines, 12 December 2013

View European Payments Council and Cards Stakeholders Group publish the SEPA Cards Standardisation Volume ready for market implementation, 7 January 2014

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