Electronic Protocols Application Software (EPAS) was a European non-commercial cooperation initiative which developed a series of data protocols to be applied in a
point of sale
The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...
(POS) environment. This included the protocols used by
payment terminal
A payment terminal, also known as a point of sale (POS) terminal, credit card machine, card reader, PIN pad, EFTPOS terminal (or by the older term as PDQ terminal which stands for "Process Data Quickly"), is a device which interfaces with payme ...
s and card payment systems. The project focused on three protocols; a terminal management protocol, a retailer application protocol and an acquirer protocol.
In 2024, EPAS was merged with two other organizations to create
Nexo Specifications.
History
The organization was launched in 2005, and took over some of the work done on payment terminal standards in Germany by the
Open Payment Initiative.
The initiative was structured along 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)
In 2012, it was merged with the OSCar consortium and the CIR SEPA-Fast technical working group to create a global standards organization called
Nexo Standards.
Participants
The EPAS Consortium was composed of 24 organisations.
*Ingenico
Ingenico is a French merchant services technology company, that facilitates secure Electronic Funds Transfer, electronic transactions. The company expanded as a manufacturer of point of sale (POS) payment terminals to also include complete mercha ...
(FR)
*VeriFone
Verifone, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in New York City, New York. Verifone provides technology for electronic payment transactions and value-added services at the point of sale, point-of-sale. Verifone sells merc ...
(US)
*The Logic Group (UK)
*Amadis (CA)
*ELITT (FR)
*MoneyLine (FR)
*Lyra Network (FR)
*Atos Worldline (DE)
*Wincor Nixdorf
Wincor Nixdorf was a German corporation that provided retail and retail banking hardware, software, and services. Wincor Nixdorf was engaged primarily in the sale, manufacture, installation and service of self-service transaction systems (such a ...
(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
* EFTPOS
Electronic funds transfer at point of sale, abbreviated as EFTPOS (), is a type of payment transaction in which electronic funds transfers (EFT) are processed at a point of sale (POS) system or payment terminal usually via payment methods such as ...
* Open Payment Initiative
* Wire transfer
Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash ...
* Electronic funds transfer
Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the transfer of money from one bank account to another, either within a single financial institution or across multiple institutions, via computer-based systems.
The funds transfer process generally consists ...
* ERIDANE
References
{{Reflist
Sources
* “Standardisierungsarbeiten im europäischen Zahlungsverkehr - Chancen für SEPA” SRC - Security Research & Consulting GmbH, Bonn - Wiesbaden, Germany, 2006, p. 5, 11 (PDF-transparencies)
* William Vanobberghen, „Le Projet EPAS - Sécurité, protection des personnes et des donnée: de nouvelles technologies et des standards pour fiabiliser le contrôle et l’identification“, Groupement des Cartes Bancaires, 27. June 2006 (PPT-transparencies)
* Hans-Rainer Frank, „SEPA aus Sicht eines europäischen Tankstellenbetreibers“, Arbeitskreis ePayment, Brussels, 11.May 2006, p. 11 (PDF-transparencies)
* GROUPEMENT DES CARTES BANCAIRES, „EUROPEAN STANDARDISATION FOR ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS“,
Used to be at: https://web.archive.org/web/20070927174537/http://www.cartes-bancaires.com/en/dossiers/standard.html (dead link as of Okt 2011)
* "EPC Card Fraud Prevention & Security Activities", Cédric Sarazin – Chairman Card Fraud Prevention TF 19. December 2007, FPEG Meeting - Brussels, https://web.archive.org/web/20121024081807/http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/fpeg/docs/sarazin_en.ppt
* "EPAS Members", https://web.archive.org/web/20161220082713/http://nexo-standards.org/members
External links
Official Web site
Banking terms
Consortia in Europe
Payment systems
Retail point of sale systems
Technology consortia