In a press announcement last week, American Express laid out the terms for its transition to EMV credit, debit and ATM transactions in the United States.

The company's program is similar to that previously announced by Visa and MasterCard but does have some differences.

Key policy requirements and dates in the roadmap are:

• By April 2013, processors must be able to support American Express EMV chip-based contact, contactless and mobile transactions (same as Visa and MasterCard).
• Beginning October 2013, merchants will be eligible to receive relief from PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) reporting requirements if the merchants' point-of-sale (POS) acceptance locations, where 75% of their transactions occur, are enabled to process American Express EMV chip-based contact and contactless transactions. (For MasterCard and Visa, the deadline falls in October of 2012.)
• Effective October 2015, American Express will institute a Fraud Liability Shift (FLS) policy that will transfer liability for certain types of fraudulent transactions away from the party that has the most secure form of EMV technology. U.S. fuel merchants will have an additional two years, until October 2017, before the FLS takes effect for transactions generated from automated fuel dispensers. (This is essentially the same as the MasterCard and Visa roadmaps, with the exception that those two guides state that liability will fall on the acquirer. Less specifically, AmEx has simply said it will fall "away from the party that has the most secure form of EMV technology.)

An additional difference is that American Express has set a target date for smartcard issuance. The company plans to begin issuing EMV-compliant cards in the U.S. in the latter half of 2012.

"The payments industry is continuing to evolve rapidly, and American Express recognizes the growing demand for chip-based contact and contactless payments in the U.S.," said Suzan Kereere, senior vice president and general manager of American Express Global Network Business. "We also fully recognize the complexities involved in migrating to EMV chip-based technology, and our first priority is to provide choice and flexibility for merchants and our card-issuing partners so they can adopt the EMV solution that best meets their needs."

For more on this topic, visit the EMV research center.