ALEXANDRIA, Va.—NACS, along with Energy Marketers of America, the National Association of Truck Stop Operators and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America, have requested a delay of the deadline for the upcoming EMV liability shift for automated fuel dispensers to October 2021. The requests were sent to American Express, Discover, Mastercard, Visa, Voyager and WEX.
“While fuel retailers have been working around the clock to be fully EMV compliant by the mid-April 2021 deadline, thousands are unlikely to meet the deadline due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and several other factors,” the groups said. The letter outlined how small business fuel retailers, in particular, have been confronted with new challenges over the past year, including severe winter storms and a shortage of technicians for installation.
In addition, “major equipment and service providers are booked through this summer for EMV projects. For example, Arkansas retailers are experiencing a six-to-10-week lead time for EMV equipment to arrive plus another two to three weeks for installation. In some cases, fuel retailers are experiencing longer delays in AFD installations due to limitations on installation crews associated with COVID-19 compliance protocols,” the letter stated.
The groups concluded that “fuel retailers take the EMV deadline very seriously, and we expect that the vast majority of them will be fully EMV compliant by the end of this year. Therefore, we respectfully request that you delay the AFD liability shift deadline one final time through October 2021 to ensure that all fuel retailers, large and small, can be fully compliant.”
The deadline to shift liability from card firms to retailers was originally scheduled for Oct. 1, 2017. However, given the challenges facing convenience retailers in compliancy, American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa extended the deadline to October 2020. When COVID-19 struck, many retailers had their efforts to become EMV-compliant disrupted. The card brands granted another extension, this time to April 16-17, 2021.