EMV and PCI are the two main rules for taking card payments safely. EMV is the chip-card standard at the card reader, and PCI is the standard for protecting card data everywhere it is handled.
EMV is the technology behind the chip on a payment card. Instead of reading a copyable magnetic stripe, an EMV reader talks to the chip, which creates a one-time code for each sale that a thief cannot reuse. It is named for the companies that created it. EMV is what makes a stolen card far harder to clone and use at the pump.
PCI, short for the Payment Card Industry data security standard, is the broader rulebook for any business that handles card numbers. It covers how the data is stored, sent, and guarded across your network, your registers, and your pumps. Meeting PCI means following a checklist of security practices and proving you follow it.
Both carry real money behind them through what is called the liability shift. If a site has not upgraded to EMV chip readers and a fraudulent card is used, the loss can land on the station instead of the bank. A site that falls behind on either standard takes on fraud charges and fines it could have avoided, which is why pump upgrades and PCI checks are not optional for an operator.
In useAfter the fuel site finally put EMV chip readers on every pump and passed its PCI scan, the fraudulent charges that used to land on the owner went back to the card issuer.
See also POS (point of sale)