Standards Specifications Patents

There are all sorts of smart card standards. The physical and mechanical standards are observed more uniformly than the software standards. An excellent annotated summary of most smart card standards is at:

http://forum.afnor.fr/afnor/WORK/AFNOR/GPN2/Z15Y/PUBLIC/WEB/ENGLISH/commerce.htm

Some frequently used and references smart card standards are posted at: http://www.ttfn.net/techno/smartcards/standards.html

ISO/IEC JTC1 Information technology SC 17 Identification cards and related devices (www.iso.ch/meme/JTC1SC17.html) is interested in common smart card issues.

The ISO 7816 series of standards and the ETSI SMG9 standards are the most important and relevant for smart card application programmers.

ISO 7810 Identification cards -- Physical characteristics.

ISO/IEC 7812 Identification cards -- Identification of issuers.

ISO/IEC 7816 Identification cards -- Integrated circuit(s) with electrical contacts. A complete description of the ISO 7816 standards is provided in ��.

ISO/IEC 10536 Identification cards -- Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards. The standard specifies close coupling (slot and surface) cards communication (parts 1-3)

ISO/IEC 10373 Identification cards -- Test methods.

ISO/IEC 14443 Remote coupling communication cards. (Contactless cards)

ISO TC 68 Banking and related financial services SC 6 (www.iso.ch/meme/TC68SC6.html) Financial transaction cards, related media and operations is representing interest of smart payment card issuers and is developing the standard series ISO 10202 Financial transaction cards -- Security architecture of financial transaction systems using integrated circuit cards (parts 1-8).

EN 742 Identification cards : location of contacts for cards and devices used in Europe. New edition specifies the format ID-000 used for GSM Subscriber Identity Module (SIM).

EN 726 Terminal Equipment (TE); Requirements for IC cards and terminals for telecommunication use. The standard is the technical basis for smartcards in Europe. In the U.S., the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST at http://csrc.ncsl.nist.gov/) has published FIPS 140-1(http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips1401.htm) "Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules" concerns physical security of smart card IC-s as they are one kind of cryptographic modules.

The Swedish government tried to standardize a smart card for use by its citizens called the Secure Electronic Information in Society (SEIS) card (www.seis.se) bu failed.