Fact Sheet - International Experience

• Throughout most of the world, service delivery through access cards using smart card technology is increasingly being used to improve the convenient, secure and efficient delivery of services to citizens and to reduce fraud.
• These cards are increasingly being used to provide access to a range of services including transport, banking and telecommunications.
• Many countries have already moved to an access card system for facilitating improved access to health and social services.
• France, for example, has been using an access card system for healthcare payments for eight years and has issued over 48 million cards¹.
• Germany, regions of Italy, Finland, Taiwan and South Africa all have implemented similar cards for accessing health and/or social services benefits.
• Ireland, the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Hungary and many parts of Asia and North America, are in the process of adopting access card type systems.
• Countries that have adopted access cards for health and social services have reported significant gains in terms of increased convenience for citizens and cost savings for governments through greater efficiencies and reduced fraud.
• France, for example, reports that use of access card technology simplifies the processing of health insurance claims, resulting in less paperwork and faster, more accurate payments².
• Globally there is already an evolution to smart cards across the financial services sector. The Europay, Mastercard, Visa (EMV) timetable-which is driving the transition to smart chip technology in the finance and services sector-has already mandated the use of smart cards to replace magnetic strip cards.
• Introduction of the EMV standard to replace current magnetic strip credit cards with smart card technology has already been mandated across central Europe, the UK, Latin America and Asia.

¹ November 2005 Sesam-Vitale Program Presentation, Cartes Conference.
² March 2003 Open smart card infrastructure for Europe Volume one, part four, pg 56.

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