Visa and MasterCard have decided to expand the deadline for implementing EMV chip card payments at millions of automated fuel pumps across the US until 1 October 2020.
Earlier, the mandated date for implementing chip card payments was set 1 October 2017; however, Visa and MasterCard both said that the gas stations are facing many difficulties, including complexities related to retrofitting or replacing automated fuel dispensers (AFDs).
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“Given our discussions with merchants, clients and partners, Visa has decided to delay the U.S. domestic AFD EMV activation date from October 1, 2017 to October 1, 2020,” Visa said in a statement.
“The fuel segment has its own unique challenges, which we recognized when we first set the chip activation date for automated fuel dispensers/pumps (AFDs) two years after regular in-store locations,” the statement added.
In a separate statement, MasterCard said: “EMV compliance for fuel merchants with Automatic Fuel Dispensers brings significant regulatory and implementation challenges. Over the past months, we have had extensive discussions with fuel merchants, issuers, acquirers and other stakeholders regarding these unique challenges.”
MasterCard believes that the AFD segment needs more time to upgrade to chip due to the complicated infrastructure and specialised technology required for fuel pumps.
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By GlobalDataIt has also stressed that there are still issues with a sufficient supply of regulatory-compliant EMV hardware and software to enable most upgrades by 2017.
Until the implementation of EMV chip cards at fuel pumps, liability will be assumed by Visa and MasterCard and the banks that use those cards.
