With the Deadline Having Passed, Less Than Half of Sellers Comply With Gas Pump EMV

Saturday has come and gone, and it appears plenty of gas stations—including many branded by major oil companies—are still falling short of chip card acceptance at the pump, despite a deadline for EMV compliance that fell on April 17. Some 48% of fuel and convenience-store sellers have complied with the automated fuel dispenser compliance mandate set by the card networks, according to a survey by payments provider ACI Worldwide Inc. of sellers representing 45,000 gas stations across the country.

Liability for fraud on sales at pumps that are not EMV-capable will now shift from the card issuer to the seller. “Although previously protected from fraud losses, merchants will now bear the brunt of fraud overnight,” said Debbie Guerra, an executive vice president at Naples, Fla.-based ACI, in a statement. 

Visa’s April 17 deadline followed by one day mandates set by the other major card networks, all of which had already extended the deadline several times in recent years. Merchants complain the hold-up lately has been caused by a shortage of technicians capable of carrying out the conversion at the pump.

Other factors, including complications caused by the Covid pandemic, also created compliance holdups, some say. “While EMV compliance is a major undertaking, and one that requires a significant capital investment, there is no doubt that the pandemic also played a big role in some fuel merchants’ inability to meet the April deadline. With overall diminished resources due to the pandemic and slow testing and certification, which is typically done in person, merchants have certainly been challenged,” Guerra said.

Other results of the survey indicate it could be a significant stretch of time before all pumps are EMV-equipped. Of the 52% of sellers who said they’re not yet fully compliant, half can’t say when they’ll achieve compliance. Some 25% expect to reach full compliance by the middle of the year, while the other quarter say it’ll take until the end of the year.

The survey did reveal a significant jump in interest among fuel sellers in such security technology as point-to-point encryption and tokenization, both of which help mask sensitive transaction data. Fifty-two percent of merchants are now considering point-to-point encryption, up from 37% in a survey ACI conducted in July. For tokenization, 39% are now expressing interest, up from 26%. Guerra points out that efforts to implement point-to-point encryption will aid conversion to EMV at the pump. “The additional bandwidth will allow merchants to secure all of their payments upfront,” she says in a statement.

Other initiatives present a mixed bag. Ninety-one percent of sellers are now planning for contactless payments, up from 85% last year, and 78% are looking into mobile payments specifically, a slight jump from 70%. But whereas two-thirds were looking into loyalty options at the pump last year, only 48% are now.