NFC Forum

The NFC Forum was formed in 2004 and now has 160+ members. It develops specifications, ensures interoperability among devices and services and educates the market about NFC technology. The Forum has released 16 specifications to date.

Its 16th specification is the Simple NDEF Exchange Protocol (SNEP). SNEP is an application-level protocol suitable for sending or receiving messages between two NFC enabled devices. The new SNEP specification is available to the public for download at no charge.

On September 5th 2012, EMVCo, the EMV® standards body collectively owned by American Express, JCB, MasterCard and Visa, has signed a Collaboration Agreement with the NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association that advances the use of NFC technology. The goal of the collaboration is to establish a framework to synchronize NFC Forum and EMVCo Specifications, test plans, test tools, laboratory accreditations and the management of contactless product certification. The framework will ultimately streamline the development and testing process of contactless technology for vendors.