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Electronic Protocols Application Software

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EPAS (Electronic Protocols Application Software) is a non-commercial cooperation initiative launched in Europe which aims at developing a series of data protocols to be applied in a point of interaction (POI) environment.

The project intends to address the three following protocols :

  • a terminal management protocol;
  • a retailer application protocol;
  • an acquirer protocol.

The main objectives common to the three protocols are:

  • protocol interoperability : each protocol is designed in such a way as to be independent of the external device and the POI;
  • independence of the system architecture and the integration level of the POI within the retailer application protocol;
  • independence of the communication support and low level protocols : each protocol is independent of the network connection and will address both wire and wireless connections.

Objectives of EPAS

The outcome of the EPAS initiative will enable to achieve interoperability by :

  • giving to manufacturers a technological advance vis-à-vis their non-European competitors ;
  • ensuring the interoperability of protocols at a European level ;
  • improving the security level of the protocols.

One of the objective of the European Commission in contributing to the building of the European Union is the creation of a Single European Market ensuring a free circulation of goods and persons as it is the case today for most national – domestic – markets in Europe. In order to anticipate undue legislation, partners in the consortium have come together to develop and disseminate a set of data protocols which would complement the business standards needed to achieve the necessary Single European Payments Area Standards.

The development of standards to create a large internal market of financial services has, however, been largely endorsed, not only by the banking industry, but also by solution providers, manufacturers, retailers and users.

The EPAS project foresees the development and provision of the missing links mentioned above in the creation of a unified market of electronic payments services by 2010.

The EPAS project intends to bring a major benefit to the POS market by eliminating existing barriers and by allowing applications to be developed and used for both national and international markets reducing to a large extent the investments to be carried out by all actors involved.

The EPAS project aims at addressing such technical bottlenecks by delivering state-of-the-art data protocols in order to ensure a smooth process of POS transactions in a forthcoming Europe-wide domestic market.

Project Development

The proposed initiative will be structured along the three following main phases  :

  • Phase I : development of technical specifications and issuance of standards (2006 - mid-2007)
  • Phase II : development of software and provision of test tools (2007 – 2008)
  • Phase III : construction of demonstrators (2008)

The EPAS project will be conducted in line with the strategic objectives of the EPC (European Payments Council).

Project Evolution

Since 2014, the EPAS project has been taken over by nexo-standards. The 3 protocols developed as ISO 20022 protocols are freely available on the ISO20022 web site and Message Usage Guide and additional information are freely available on the nexo-standards Official Web site.

Participants

The EPAS Consortium is composed of 24 organisations, each of them actively involved in its respective domain of expertise (card payment schemes, manufacturers, service companies, software developers, retailers).

The participating organisations are :

  • Ingenico (FR)
  • VeriFone (US)
  • The Logic Group (UK)
  • Amadis (CA)
  • ELITT (FR)
  • MoneyLine (FR)
  • Lyra Network (FR)
  • Atos Worldline (DE)
  • Wincor Nixdorf (ES)
  • GIE – Groupement des Cartes Bancaires "CB" (FR) (Co-ordinator)
  • Desjardins (CA)
  • Atos Worldline (BE)
  • Security Research and Consulting (SRC) GmbH (DE)
  • Equens SE (NL)
  • Sermepa (ES)
  • Cetrel (LU)
  • Total (FR)
  • Quercia (IT)
  • University of Applied Sciences, Cologne (DE)
  • Integri (BE)
  • PAN Nordic Card Association (PNC) (SE)
  • GALITT (FR)
  • BP (GB)
  • RSC Commercial Services (DE)
  • Europay Austria Zahlungsverkehrssysteme GmbH (AT)
  • SIBS (PT)
  • Thales e-Transactions España (ES)

See also

Sources

References

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