ISO/IEC 7816-3:2006

INTERNATIONAL ISO/IEC
STANDARD 7816-3
Third edition
2006-11-01
Identification cards — Integrated circuit
cards —
Part 3:
Cards with contacts — Electrical
interface and transmission protocols
Cartes d'identification — Cartes à circuit intégré —
Partie 3: Cartes à contacts — Interface électrique et protocoles
de transmission
Reference number
©
ISO/IEC 2006
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©  ISO/IEC 2006
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ii © ISO/IEC 2006 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword. iv
Introduction . v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms and definitions. 1
4 Symbols and abbreviated terms . 3
5 Electrical characteristics . 5
5.1 General. 5
5.2 Contacts. 6
6 Card operating procedure. 9
6.1 Principles. 9
6.2 Activation, resets and class selection. 9
6.3 Information exchange. 11
6.4 Deactivation. 12
7 Asynchronous character . 13
7.1 Elementary time unit. 13
7.2 Character frame . 13
7.3 Error signal and character repetition. 14
8 Answer to reset . 15
8.1 Characters and coding conventions. 15
8.2 Answer-to-Reset . 16
8.3 Global interface bytes . 18
9 Protocol and parameters selection. 20
9.1 PPS exchange . 20
9.2 PPS request and response . 20
9.3 Successful PPS exchange . 21
10 Protocol T=0, half-duplex transmission of characters . 22
10.1 Scope . 22
10.2 Character level . 22
10.3 Structure and processing of commands. 22
11 Protocol T=1, half-duplex transmission of blocks . 24
11.1 Scope and principles. 24
11.2 Character frame . 24
11.3 Block frame . 24
11.4 Protocol parameters. 27
11.5 Character component operation at data link layer. 28
11.6 Block component operation at data link layer. 28
12 Transmission of command-response pairs . 32
12.1 Application protocol data units. 32
12.2 Command-response pair transmission by T=0 . 34
12.3 Command-response pair transmission by T=1 . 40
Annex A (informative) Scenarios for T=1. 42
Bibliography . 50

© ISO/IEC 2006 – All rights reserved iii

Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (the International Electrotechnical
Commission) form the specialized system for worldwide standardization. National bodies that are members of
ISO or IEC participate in the development of International Standards through technical committees
established by the respective organization to deal with particular fields of technical activity. ISO and IEC
technical committees collaborate in fields of mutual interest. Other international organizations, governmental
and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO and IEC, also take part in the work. In the field of information
technology, ISO and IEC have established a joint technical committee, ISO/IEC JTC 1.
International Standards are drafted in accordance with the rules given in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The main task of the joint technical committee is to prepare International Standards. Draft International
Standards adopted by the joint technical committee are circulated to national bodies for voting. Publication as
an International Standard requires approval by at least 75 % of the national bodies casting a vote.
ISO/IEC 7816-3 was prepared by Joint Technical Committee ISO/IEC JTC 1, Information technology,
Subcommittee SC 17, Cards and personal identification.
This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition (ISO/IEC 7816-3:1997), which has been technically
revised. It also incorporates the Amendment ISO/IEC 7816-3:1997/Amd.1:2002.
In addition, it incorporates material extracted from the first edition of Part 4 (ISO/IEC 7816-4:1995), so that the
transmission protocols are no longer present in the second edition of Part 4 (ISO/IEC 7816-4:2005).
ISO/IEC 7816 consists of the following parts, under the general title Identification cards — Integrated circuit
cards:
⎯ Part 1: Cards with contacts — Physical characteristics
⎯ Part 2: Cards with contacts — Dimensions and location of the contacts
⎯ Part 3: Cards with contacts — Electrical interface and transmission protocols
⎯ Part 4: Organization, security and commands for interchange
⎯ Part 5: Registration of application providers
⎯ Part 6: Interindustry data elements for interchange
⎯ Part 7: Interindustry commands for Structured Card Query Language (SCQL)
⎯ Part 8: Commands for security operations
⎯ Part 9: Commands for card management
⎯ Part 10: Cards with contacts — Electronic signals and answer to reset for synchronous cards
⎯ Part 11: Personal verification through biometric methods
⎯ Part 12: Cards with contacts — USB electrical interface and operating procedures
⎯ Part 13: Commands for application management in multi-application environment
⎯ Part 15: Cryptographic information application
iv © ISO/IEC 2006 – All rights reserved

Introduction
ISO/IEC 7816 is a series of standards specifying integrated circuit cards and the use of such cards for
interchange. These cards are identification cards intended for information exchange negotiated between the
outside world and the integrated circuit in the card. As a result of an information exchange, the card delivers
information (computation result, stored data), and/or modifies its content (data storage, event memorization).
Five parts are specific to cards with galvanic contacts and three of them specify electrical interfaces.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-1 specifies physical characteristics for cards with contacts.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-2 specifies dimensions and location of the contacts.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-3 specifies electrical interface and transmission protocols for asynchronous cards.
NOTE The first and second editions of ISO/IEC 7816-3 specified an optional use of contact C6 to provide the
card with programming power required to write or to erase internal non-volatile memory. As every card manufactured
since 1990 internally generates programming power, this third edition deprecates this use, as well as the related
indications in the Answer-to-Reset and the related controls in each transmission protocol.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-10 specifies electrical interface and answer to reset for synchronous cards.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-12 specifies electrical interface and operating procedures for USB cards.
All the other parts are independent of the physical interface technology. They apply to cards accessed by one
or more of the following methods: contacts, close coupling and radio frequency.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-4 specifies organization, security and commands for interchange.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-5 specifies registration of application providers.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-6 specifies interindustry data elements for interchange.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-7 specifies commands for structured card query language.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-8 specifies commands for security operations.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-9 specifies commands for card management.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-11 specifies personal verification through biometric methods.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-13 specifies commands for application management in multi-application environment.
⎯ ISO/IEC 7816-15 specifies cryptographic information application.
[3] [5] [6]
ISO/IEC 10536 specifies access by close coupling. ISO/IEC 14443 and ISO/IEC 15693 specify access by
radio frequency. Such cards are also known as contactless cards.

© ISO/IEC 2006 – All rights reserved v

ISO and IEC draw attention to the fact that it is claimed that compliance with this document may involve the
use of patents.
ISO and IEC take no position concerning the evidence, validity and scope of these patent rights.
The holders of these patent rights have assured ISO and IEC that they are willing to negotiate licences under
reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions with applicants throughout the world. In this respect,
the statements of the holders of these patent rights are registered with ISO and IEC. Information may be
obtained from the following companies.
Patent holder Patent number Details Foreign equivalents
FRA 8708646,
Integrated circuit card,
FRA 8717770,
JPN 2537199 (priority date: 1986-06-20;
USA 4833595,
publication date: 1996-07-08)
USA 4901276
Toshiba Corporation
Intellectual Property Division
Processing system which
1-1, Shibaura 1-Chome
transmits a predetermined
Minato-ku, Tokyo
error code upon de
...