What chip and PIN means for you

• Most major high street names have now implemented chip and PIN in their stores.
• Retail staff using chip and PIN say that customers find PIN easier or as easy to use as signing.
• If you own your card payment terminal and decide not to implement chip and PIN you risk being targeted by fraudsters, who may seek outlets which have not been upgraded

Chip and PIN is a revolutionary new payment system that introduces a more secure way for over 40 million people in the UK to use their credit and debit cards. Chip and PIN will combat the increasing level of plastic card fraud which is currently costing the UK over £500 million a year.

To combat card fraud, two fundamental facts need to be established at the time of transaction - that the card is the genuine item and that the person using it is the true owner. The chip means that it is effectively impossible to counterfeit or copy the card while the PIN makes it harder for a criminal to use a lost or stolen card.

As a business which accepts face-to-face credit or debit card payments from customers, fraud may take place in your outlets without you ever being aware of it. A Europe- wide shift in the liability for card fraud losses on transactions that could have been protected with chip and PIN happened on 1 January 2005. In these cases the liability rests with whichever party - bank or retailer - that hasn't yet upgraded. Consumers are not affected by this change - they continue to be protected from losses by The Banking Code.

If a retailer does not have a chip and PIN acceptance device after January 1, 2005 and the use of such a device could have prevented the fraud from occurring, the retailer may bear the cost of the fraudulent transaction. This will depend upon the terms and conditions between that retailer and its acquiring bank.

Find out more

• Shift of liability for fraudulent transactions
• Card not present transactions