Retailers that have not yet started their Chip and PIN upgrades are unlikely to make the January 2005 deadline, according to project chiefs.
Store groups that fail to meet the changeover date will be liable to pay for the cost of card fraud, which could be millions of pounds.
According to an interim report published by the Chip and PIN trial Project Management Organisation (PMO), mid-sized and large retailers that opt to integrate their own chip card readers and PIN pads should expect to spend at least 30 weeks on the project.
Most retailers postpone IT projects through the summer, Christmas and Easter periods, and the report says this provides just enough time for projects to be completed.
However, the estimation is based on the present speed of accreditation by acquiring banks. Many retailers, including trial participants Safeway and Tesco, believe that this stage will cause a bottleneck.
Tesco treasury director and Chip and PIN project leader Nick Mourant said: 'The key stage is getting accreditations from EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) because of the lack of resources there to push them through. Retailers that haven't started now are unlikely to get their project through by January 2005.'
The report also indicates that retailers should find customers willing to take up the payment method. More than 80 per cent of Northampton consumers had heard of Chip and PIN and were in favour of the change.
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