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BS ISO IEC 10373 — Identification Card Test Methods Standard Series
Identification cards — Test methods (BS ISO/IEC 10373, cards and personal identification)
📐 BS ISO/IEC 10373 is the British Standards Institution’s adoption of ISO/IEC 10373, “Identification cards — Test methods”, which provides a unified test-method framework for all kinds of identification cards (ID cards, bank cards, social-security cards, access cards, and passport electronic pages). Used together with ISO/IEC 7810 (card physical characteristics), 7811 (magnetic stripe), 7816 (contact IC cards), 14443 (proximity cards), and 15693 (vicinity cards), the series covers physical, geometrical, electrical, and reliability test methods for cards. It is maintained by Technical Committee IST/17 (Cards and personal identification).
💡 “Standardised cards need standardised test methods too”: the ISO/IEC 10373 series ensures that cards made by different manufacturers can be fairly and reproducibly evaluated for dimensions, strength, durability, and electrical performance under one common test regime.
1. Series Overview and General Test Conditions 📌
Part 1 (General characteristics) is the foundation for all parts. It specifies general clauses applicable to every test method:
- Test environment: default values and allowable ranges for laboratory temperature, humidity, and similar conditions, so that tests are reproducible;
- Pre-conditioning: the temperature/humidity conditioning procedure applied to cards before testing;
- Selection of test methods: choosing the applicable combination of tests based on card type and use;
- Default tolerance and total measurement uncertainty: default tolerances for dimensional measurement and requirements on the uncertainty of results.
Part 1 also defines the common test items used across all card types: card warpage, card dimensions, peel strength, resistance to chemicals, dimensional stability and warpage under temperature and humidity, and blocking/adhesion.
⚠️ The test environment and pre-conditioning have a huge impact on results: the warpage and dimensional stability of the same card measured at 23°C/50% RH versus 60°C/90% RH can differ substantially. You must apply the Part 1 default pre-conditioning before testing and record the actual environment in the report.
2. Series Composition and Key Points 🔧
| Part | Subject | Key Content | Readability |
|---|---|---|---|
| BS ISO/IEC 10373-1 | General characteristics | General: environment, pre-conditioning, warpage, dimensions, peel strength, chemical resistance | Readable |
| BS ISO/IEC 10373-2 | Cards with magnetic stripes | Magnetic-stripe cards: encoding, read/write performance, wear and demagnetisation tests | Readable |
| BS ISO/IEC 10373-3 | IC cards with contacts and related interface devices | Contact IC cards: contact position, electrical interference, ESD and reliability tests | Readable |
| BS ISO/IEC 10373-5 | Optical memory cards | Optical memory cards (public-domain knowledge) | Scanned |
| BS ISO/IEC 10373-6 | Proximity cards | Proximity (RFID) cards and reader interface tests (public-domain knowledge) | Scanned |
| BS ISO/IEC 10373-7 | Contactless vicinity cards | Vicinity cards and interface-device tests (public-domain knowledge) | Scanned |
| BS ISO/IEC 10373-8 | USB and storage cards | USB and newer interface card test methods (public-domain knowledge) | Scanned |
| BS ISO/IEC 10373-9 | Optical memory cards (holographic) | Holographic optical memory card tests (public-domain knowledge) | Scanned |
🚨 Scanned-version note: Parts 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 are derived from scanned originals. The descriptions in this article are written from public-domain knowledge; the official BSI published version takes precedence for test parameters and clauses.
3. Key Technical Requirements: Major Part Content 🔥
Part 2 (magnetic-stripe cards) specifies the physical and electrical test methods for the magnetic stripe on a card: the dimensions and position of the stripe area, the read performance of data encoded on the tracks, wear resistance (degradation when the stripe is repeatedly drawn across a head), and demagnetisation caused by exposure to magnetic fields — the basis for bank-card magnetic-stripe compatibility evaluation. Part 3 (contact IC cards) specifies tests for contact integrated-circuit cards and related interface devices: contact dimensions and position, contact resistance, electrostatic-discharge (ESD) sensitivity, operating voltage range, and reliability (bending, torsion, insertion-life) — used together with the ISO/IEC 7816 series.
The parts aimed at contactless applications (Parts 6 and 7) specify coupling behaviour in an RF field, resonance frequency, modulation and load-modulation parameters, and reader-conformance tests for proximity and vicinity cards; the optical-memory parts (5 and 9) cover the test conditions for recording and reading data on optical media. Every part follows the Part 1 general clauses, forming a complete “general + specific” test system.
✅ For bank-card and document manufacturing, the combined tests of 10373-1 (general) and 10373-3 (contact IC) are the core acceptance inspection: only cards that pass the full bending, torsion, warpage, peel, and ESD suite remain reliably usable in terminals over the long term.
4. Engineering Practice 🛠️
- 🔍 Incoming and process inspection: after card-base material, lamination, and printing are completed, spot-check warpage, dimensions, and interlayer peel strength per Part 1 to control batch quality.
- 🔧 Certification and compliance: type tests for bank-card schemes (Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay) and ID-document projects widely reference ISO/IEC 10373, enabling test labs to issue reports by a uniform method.
- 📊 Failure analysis: when a card fails to read at a terminal, or shows contact wear or stripe degradation, reproduce and quantify the degradation per the relevant part to locate process or material defects.
- 📋 Laboratories and databases: independent third-party testing laboratories build standard test procedures from this series to provide card suppliers and issuers with comparable results.
5. Frequently Asked Questions ❓
❓ Q: What is the relationship between BS ISO/IEC 10373 and ISO/IEC 7816?
A: 10373 specifies “how to test”, while 7816 specifies “the card’s specification and interface”. They are used together: 7816 defines the physical, electrical, and communication characteristics of contact IC cards, and 10373-3 defines the test methods that verify those characteristics.
A: 10373 specifies “how to test”, while 7816 specifies “the card’s specification and interface”. They are used together: 7816 defines the physical, electrical, and communication characteristics of contact IC cards, and 10373-3 defines the test methods that verify those characteristics.
❓ Q: Why does Part 1 first define the test environment?
A: The dimensions, warpage, and mechanical strength of a card are highly sensitive to temperature and humidity. Only a unified test environment and pre-conditioning procedure make results across labs and batches reproducible and comparable.
A: The dimensions, warpage, and mechanical strength of a card are highly sensitive to temperature and humidity. Only a unified test environment and pre-conditioning procedure make results across labs and batches reproducible and comparable.
❓ Q: Which part applies to contactless cards (payment cards, access cards)?
A: Proximity cards designed to ISO/IEC 14443 correspond to Part 6, and vicinity cards to ISO/IEC 15693 correspond to Part 7. Both are bound by the Part 1 general clauses.
A: Proximity cards designed to ISO/IEC 14443 correspond to Part 6, and vicinity cards to ISO/IEC 15693 correspond to Part 7. Both are bound by the Part 1 general clauses.
🔍 Q: Can the scanned parts still be used as a testing reference?
A: The descriptions of the scanned parts in this article are written from public-domain knowledge. For executing specific tests or certification, follow the method clauses in the official BSI published version and check for the latest amendments.
A: The descriptions of the scanned parts in this article are written from public-domain knowledge. For executing specific tests or certification, follow the method clauses in the official BSI published version and check for the latest amendments.