This move, that will begin its phase-in stage next year, is designed to protect retailers, as the burden of fraud will fall on them and the card-holder rather than the card-provider, as is currently the case.
And this in turn will require every outlet using credit card payment to have the necessary equipment to deal with the use of PIN codes.
One of the UK’s leading independent specialist electronic component distributors, Coalville-based Flint, has the technology to provide such equipment and decided earlier this year to set up a company to do just this.
Marketing Manager Ken Grubb needed new branding creating and when a last-minute opportunity was seized at the ATEI 2003 show, at Earls Court in London, to launch the company time was of the essence. An exhibition stand, literature, an Audio Visual presentation and Smart-Card promotional campaign were developed in a matter of weeks.
Ken now believes that had he used different suppliers for each aspect of the launch the deadlines would not have been met.
"The complete solution was handled in-house by Quiet Storm and we were delighted. There was certainly no compromise of quality to meet the timescale – everyone within the company and many outsiders were very impressed," he said. "The use of a single supplier also meant consistency across the mediums."