Payment certification

EMV® Level 1 contact & contactless testing

EMV® Level 1 is the physical and protocol layer of payment — the analog and low-level digital behaviour every payment card, terminal and phone must pass before type approval, on both the contact (ISO 7816) and contactless (RF) interfaces.

Official specification: EMVCo specifications ↗

What is EMV® Level 1?

EMVCo — owned by the major payment networks — defines the technical specifications for chip-based payment. Level 1 (L1) is the physical and low-level protocol layer, and it spans two interfaces: contactless and contact.

On the contactless interface, L1 covers how a reader (PCD — Proximity Coupling Device) and a card or device (PICC — Proximity Integrated Circuit Card) exchange power and data over the 13.56 MHz RF field, including the analog characteristics and the low-level digital protocol. Type approval is performed separately for the PCD (terminal/reader) and PICC (card/device) sides, against versioned specifications such as PCD 3.2a and PICC 3.2b.

On the contact interface, L1 covers the ISO/IEC 7816 electrical and transport behaviour between the terminal's interface module (IFM) and the integrated circuit card (ICC) — supply and signal levels, the activation sequence and Answer-to-Reset (ATR), and the T=0 / T=1 transport protocol. Type approval is likewise performed separately for the IFM (terminal) and ICC (card) sides.

What contactless L1 testing covers

The contactless interface is verified in two parts:

Analog — field strength, load modulation amplitude, waveform and timing, power transfer and reception, with absolute margin to the limits
Digital — the low-level protocol: polling, activation, frame timing and error handling

What contact L1 testing covers

The contact interface is verified in two parts:

Electrical — supply voltage and current, I/O, CLK and RST signal levels, rise and fall times and the activation / deactivation sequence, with absolute margin to the limits
Protocol — the Answer-to-Reset (ATR), PPS negotiation and the T=0 / T=1 transport protocol: character and block timing, and error handling

Test it with cilab

Run EMV® L1 PCD and PICC on one bench

The ci230 includes EMV® PCD and PICC L1 analog and digital test benches in a single integrated instrument — for certification, pre-compliance and R&D. It reports absolute analog results with margin to the limits and decodes the protocol from a single test antenna, with no separate sniffer probe.

Explore the ci230

Run EMV® L1 ICC — electrical and protocol

The ci220 runs EMV® contact L1: ICC (card) electrical and transport-protocol testing over the ISO/IEC 7816 interface, at high speed — for certification, pre-compliance and R&D, with the same absolute, margin-to-limits measurement approach as the contactless bench.

Explore the ci220

Frequently asked

What is the difference between EMV® L1, L2 and L3?

L1 is the physical and low-level protocol layer — RF/analog and digital on contactless, electrical and transport protocol on contact. L2 is the payment application/kernel and L3 covers the terminal-to-acquirer transaction. cilab addresses Level 1: the ci230 for contactless, the ci220 for contact.

What is PCD vs PICC in EMV® testing?

PCD (Proximity Coupling Device) is the reader/terminal side; PICC (Proximity Integrated Circuit Card) is the card/device side. EMV® L1 type approval is performed separately for each.

What is ICC vs IFM in EMV® contact testing?

ICC (Integrated Circuit Card) is the contact card; IFM (interface module) is the terminal's contact interface. They are the contact counterparts to PICC and PCD — EMV® contact L1 covers the ISO/IEC 7816 electrical and transport-protocol behaviour, with type approval performed separately for each.

Can I run EMV® L1 pre-compliance in-house?

Yes. The ci230 runs the same analog and digital L1 measurements used for certification, so you can catch failures in R&D long before the accredited lab.

Related standards

Interoperability certification

NFC Forum certification (CR15)

NFC Forum certification proves an NFC device interoperates with the rest of the ecosystem. CR15 is the current certification release, extending the tested operating range and consolidating the analog, digital and wireless-charging requirements.

Contactless standard

ISO/IEC 14443 proximity card testing

ISO/IEC 14443 is the foundation of contactless — the 13.56 MHz proximity standard behind payment cards, transit, eID and access. Almost every NFC and EMV® contactless product builds on it.

Test smart. Certify easy.

See how cilab runs EMV® Level 1 on your bench — book a demo with one of our engineers.

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