The demonstration affords a sneak preview of a secure shopping application which uses Eurocard-Mastercard EMV compliant smart cards and is to be implemented by France's Credit Mutuel later this year.

The application uses Motorola’s Timeport model of its tri-band, dual slot GSM - recently upgraded to accept EMV-compliant Eurocard-MasterCard M/Chip cards. Europay developed the specification and has upgraded its online test merchant site, Europay Shop, to support these mobile EMV payment transactions. Oberthur developed the card applications, including the SIM application for mobile phones.

Crédit Mutuel will issue the first EMV smart cards in France in late 2001, using Europay/MasterCard’s M/Chip applications. France Telecom Mobiles has upgraded its mobile payment solution (launched in June 2000) and is providing the GSM infrastructure. It has also developed the gateway for the demonstration transactions. In the near future, its customers will be able to conduct payment transactions with both French and international e-commerce merchants.

"This move further emphasises a high level of confidence in EMV-chip beyond the physical world," believes Pascal Dufour, senior manager, new products introduction at Europay International. "We expect continued growth over the next few years in the use of EMV- chip technology to secure payments over the Internet and mobile channels."

EMV stands for Europay-MasterCard-Visa - a joint industry working group created to facilitate the introduction of chip technology by developing joint specifications for smart cards and payment system terminals.