Card Standards

The card standards listed below can be purchased on-line by visiting ansi.org or ncits.org (ISO & NCITS standards) and AAMVA.org (AAMVA standards) These documents are those currently used by various industry segments to define acceptable card structures and interchange rules.

NOTE: While the publication dates shown below are updated periodically, always look for the most recent date when purchasing.

ISO/IEC 7810: 2003 Identification Cards - Physical characteristics
This standard states minimum requirements for the base card structure. Parameters include card dimensions, warpage, bending stiffness, opacity and peel strength between card layers.

ISO/IEC 7811-1: 2002 Identification Cards - Recording technique - Part 1: Embossing
This standard states minimum requirements for embossed character shapes and relief height.

ISO/IEC 7811-2: 2001 Identification Cards - Recording technique - Part 2: Magnetic Stripe
This standard states minimum requirements for low coercivity magnetic media, mag stripe location, surface profile etc. Encoding parameters are also addressed.

ISO/IEC 7811-6: 2008 Identification Cards - Recording technique - Part 6: Magnetic Stripe - High coercivity
This standard states minimum requirements for high coercivity magnetic media, mag stripe location, surface profile etc. Encoding parameters are also addressed.

ISO/IEC 7811-7: 2004 Identification Cards - Recording technique - Part 7: Magnetic Stripe - High density
This standard states minimum requirements for high density recording. Encoding parameters are also addressed.

ISO/IEC 7812-1: 2006 Identification Cards - Identification of issuers - Part 1: Numbering system
This standard states requirements for the numbering system used by certain industry segments.

ISO/IEC 7812-2: 2007 Identification Cards -Identification of issuers - Part 2: Application and registration procedures
This standard states procedures for registering numbers.

ISO/IEC 7813: 2006 Identification Cards - Financial transaction cards
This standard identifies common rules for financial transaction cards.

ISO/IEC 7816-1: 2003 Identification Cards - Integrated circuit(s) cards with contacts - Part 1: Physical characteristics
This standard states physical requirements for contact type IC cards.

ISO/IEC 7816-2: 2007 Identification Cards - Integrated circuit(s) cards with contacts - Part 2: Dimension & location of contacts
This standard states requirements for the dimension and location if the IC contacts.

ISO/IEC 7816-3: 2006 Identification Cards - Integrated circuit(s) cards with contacts - Part 3: Electronic signal & transmission protocols
This standard states requirements for IC card with contacts transmission protocols.

ISO/IEC 7816-4 thru-15
These standards states requirements for the various aspects of IC card with contacts interchange.

ISO/IEC 10373-1: 2006 Identification Cards - Test Methods - Part 1: General characteristics tests
This document provides test methods to be used to test compliance to ISO/IEC 7810 and any other parameter stated in two or more ISO card standards

ISO/IEC 10373-2: 2006 Identification Cards - Test Methods - Part 2: Cards with magnetic stripe
This document provides test methods to be used to test compliance to ISO/IEC 7811-2 and ISO/IEC 7811-6.

ISO/IEC 10373-3: 2010 Identification Cards - Test Methods - Part 3: Integrated circuit(s) cards with contacts and related devices
This document provides test methods to be used to test compliance to the multiple parts of ISO/IEC 7816.

ISO/IEC 10373-5: 2006 Identification Cards - Test Methods - Part 5: Optical memory cards
This document provides test methods to be used to test compliance to the multiple parts of ISO/IEC 14443.

ISO/IEC 10373-6: 2007 Identification Cards - Test Methods - Part 6: Proximity cards
This document provides test methods to be used to test compliance to the multiple parts of ISO/IEC 14443.

ISO/IEC 10373-7: 2008 Identification Cards - Test Methods - Part 7: Vicinity cards
This document provides test methods to be used to test compliance to the multiple parts of ISO/IEC 15693.

ISO/IEC 10536-1: 2000 Identification Cards - Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards - Close coupled card - Part 1: Physical characteristics
This standard states physical requirements for contactless type IC cards.

ISO/IEC 10536-2: 1995 Identification Cards - Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards - Part 2: Dimension & location of coupling areas
This standard states requirements for the dimension and location of the contactless IC card's coupling areas.

ISO/IEC 10536-3: 1996 Identification Cards - Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards - Part 3: Electronic signal & reset procedures
This standard states requirements for IC card with contacts transmission protocols.

ISO/IEC 11693: 2005 Identification Cards - Optical memory cards - General Characteristics
This standard states general characteristics for optical memory cards.

ISO/IEC 11694-1: 2005 Identification Cards - Optical memory cards - Linear recording method - Part 1: Physical characteristics
This standard states physical requirements for optical memory cards.

ISO/IEC 11693: Optical Memory Cards and
ISO/IEC 11694: Optical Memory Cards
These standards state requirements for various aspects of optical memory interchange.

ISO/IEC 11694-4: 2008 Identification Cards - Optical memory cards - Linear recording method - Part 4: Logical data structures
This standard states requirements for the optical memory data structures.

ISO/IEC 14443-1: 2008 Identification Cards - Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards - Proximity cards - Part 1: Physical characteristics
This standard states physical requirements for proximity cards.

ISO/IEC 14443-2: 2010 Identification Cards - Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards - Proximity cards - Part 2: RF power and signal interface

ISO/IEC 14443-3: 2006 Identification Cards - Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards - Proximity cards - Part 3: Initialization and anticollision

ISO/IEC 14443-4: 2008 Identification Cards - Contactless integrated circuit(s) cards - Proximity cards - Part 4: Transmission protocol

ISO/IEC 15457-1: 2008 Identification Cards - Thin flexible cards - Physical characteristics
This standard states minimum requirements for thin flexible card's (TFC) base card structure.

ISO/IEC 15457-2: 2007 Identification Cards - Thin flexible cards - Part 2: Magnetic recording technique
This standard states minimum requirements for low coercivity magnetic media, mag stripe location, surface profile etc. Encoding parameters are also addressed. Next revision due to be published in 2003.

ISO/IEC 15457-3: 2008 Identification Cards - Thin flexible cards- Part 3: Test Methods
This document provides test methods to be used to test compliance to ISO/IEC 15457-1 and ISO/IEC 15457-2

ISO/IEC 4909: 2008 Bank Cards - Magnetic stripe data control for track 3

ANSI/INCITS 322: 2002 Card durability test methods -
This document provides test methods to used for assessing card durability.

AAMVA DL/ID Standard-2010 AAMVA National Standard for the Driver License/Identification Card
This document states AAMVA's driver license requirements