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ANSI/ISO/IEC 7811-3 specifies in detail the location of embossed characters on an ID-1 card, and Part 4 specifies the location of magnetic stripes. As illustrated in Figure 3.2, two areas for embossing are specified. The first, whose center line is 21.42 mm above the bottom edge of the card, or just below the center line of the card, allows for up to 19 card identification number numerals to be embossed. Just below this is an additional area of approximately 14.53 mm by 66.04 mm in which 4 rows of 27 characters each can be used to form a name and address field. This is offset at least 2.41 mm from the bottom of the card and 7.65 mm from the left edge; the embossed characters are raised toward the front side of the card. If a magnetic stripe is included on the card, it is found near the top, on the back side of the card. The specifications state that the magnetic stripe and the embossing may not overlap.


Figure 3.2.  Embossing and magnetic stripe locations.

Two variants of magnetic stripes can be found on ID-1 identification cards; the form and location of these are defined in ANSI/ISO/IEC 7811-4 (for read-only tracks) and Part 5 (for read/write tracks). One of these is 6.35 mm tall by 79.76 mm wide, positioned no more than 5.54 mm from the top edge of the card and on the back face of the card. This magnetic stripe supports two recording tracks, each of which is intended to be a read-only track.

The Business Model for Identification Cards

By following the ISO standards through several interconnected specifications for identification cards, it is possible to go beyond just the description of physical and electronic characteristics of the card. They have arrived at a business model from which inferences can be made regarding how cards will be manufactured, what groups will actually distribute the cards to end users, and some of the operations to be performed by the end users of the identification cards. For example, the ANSI/ISO/IEC 7811-1 specification defines two terms reflecting the “distribution state” of a card:

  Unused card—A card that has been embossed with all the characters required for its intended purpose but has not been issued.
  Return card—An embossed card after it has been issued to the cardholder and returned for the purpose of testing.

ANSI/ISO/IEC 7811-2 further defines similar states for magnetic stripe cards:

  Unused unencoded card—A card possessing all components required for its intended purpose that has not been subjected to any personalization or testing operation. The card has been stored in a clean environment without more than 48-hour exposure to daylight at temperatures between 5 degrees C and 30 degrees C and humidity between 10% and 90%, without experiencing thermal shock.
  Unused encoded card—An unused, unencoded card that has only been encoded with all the data required for its intended purpose (for example, magnetic encoding, embossing, electronic encoding).
  Returned card—An embossed or encoded card after it has been issued to the cardholder and returned for the purpose of testing.

ANSI/ISO/IEC 7812: “Identification of Issuers—Part 1: Numbering System” further develops the business model by establishing a standard for the card identification number, which is displayed in embossed characters on the front face of an ID-1 card. The card identification number, which may be up to 19 characters long, is subdivided into three components:

  Issuer identification number—A six-digit component that includes the following:
  Major industry identifier—A one-digit indicator of the industry designation of the card issuer; it is one of the following:
0—Tag reserved to indicate new industry assignments
1—Airlines
2—Airlines and other future industry assignments
3—Travel and entertainment
4—Banking/financial
5—Banking/financial
6—Merchandizing and banking
7—Petroleum
8—Telecommunications and other future industry assignments
9—For assignment by national standards bodies
  Issuer identifier—A five-digit number associated with the specific issuing organization.
  Individual account identification number—A variable-length component up to 12 digits maximum.
  Check digit—A cross-check number that is calculated from all the previous digits in the identification number according to an algorithm called the Luhn formula, which is defined in an appendix of ANSI/ISO/IEC 7812.

The path toward standards-based specification of a general business mode (for financial transactions) becomes very explicit with ISO/IEC 7813: Identification Cards—Financial Transaction Cards. This specification does not consider any new technical areas, but makes a strict enumeration of the standards that must be adhered to in order to call a card a financial transaction card.

ISO/IEC 7813 specifies the content of the two read-only tracks of a magnetic strip included on the card. This augments the content definition for ISO 4909 for the read/write track. The end result is a complete description of both the technical characteristics and the information content of cards suitable to support financial transactions, all rooted in international standards and acceptable for worldwide deployment.


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