The smart card standards basically govern communication characteristics, application identifiers and physical properties of embedded data and chip. Most of the standards refer to ISO 7861-1, 2 and 3 as their base reference.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
ISO is responsible for facilitation of creating voluntary standards via a process which is open to all the parties. The ISO 7816 is an international standard used for smart cards or integrated circuit cards which use electrical contact over the card and also the cards which communicate with the readers and also terminals not having contacts similar to the RF/Contactless radio frequency technology. Someone keen on getting the technical understanding of the smart card has to be conversant with what is covered under ISO 7816 and 14443 and what is not. You can get copies of the standards by purchasing them via American National Standards Institute. You can also get copies of these ISO standards from the ISO website by paying for them.
The properties that are application specific are under debate with lots of large groups and organizations that are proposing the standards. Inter-operability of the open system card needs to be applied at many levels.
- To the card
- The access terminals of the smart card
- It’s network.
- Own systems of the card issuers.
You can achieve the interoperability of open system cards only with conformance to the international standards.
The different organizations are quite active in the standardization of smart cards. Some of the standards and organizations that maintain those standards which are active in the smart card industry are: IEC/ISO which is one of the universal bodies for setting standards for technology that includes plastic cards as well. Basic standards required for smart cards include ISO/IEC 15693, ISO/IEC 14443, ISO/IEC 7501 and ISO/IEC 7816.
