Acceptance Policies Clarified for New, Flexible Card Design Options
REGIONS: US, AP, Canada, CEMEA, LAC, Europe
24 OCT 2019
Visa has clarified its acceptance policies to support updated Visa Product Brand Standards that offer greater flexibility in card design. To ensure an optimal cardholder experience, acquirers and merchants should be aware of Visa’s new card design options.
Effective immediately, Visa has modified standards to allow increased flexibility when issuers are designing Visa cards. Key changes include fewer required card elements and broader options for placement and color of the Visa Brand Mark.
To support these updated card design options, the Visa Rules have been updated to clarify cardholder verification requirements for cards without signature panels. For transactions with cards that do not have a signature panel, merchants do not have to validate a cardholder’s signature.¹ Additionally, issuers will not be permitted to raise a request for copy (RFC) for a transaction receipt. This applies regardless of whether the merchant has deployed an EMV®-capable terminal.²
¹ Visa cards issued in the U.S. will continue to contain a signature panel, but merchants may be presented with Visa cards issued from outside the U.S., which may not contain a signature panel.
² Merchants with non-EMV capable terminals (i) must continue to capture and validate a cardholder signature and (ii) remain subject to RFCs for transactions on all other cards above the applicable Visa Easy Payment Service (VEPS) limit, if no PIN is obtained.
