The EU Intelligent Fare Management (IFM) Alliance, proposed by the European Commission, will establish the rules, specifications and governance requirements for membership of the scheme.
It should mirror similar schemes in the mobile phone and banking industries and provide seamless use of smart cards across Europe.
The alliance will also undertake compliance checking, award certification, and outline actions to be taken in the event of non-compliance. It will establish an identity for the scheme, publish a list of compliant schemes, and manage relationships with other trust schemes.
Once the EU-IFM Alliance is established a pilot scheme will be launched. This will test the portal, the trust scheme and the necessary compliance of smart cards, mobile phones and bankcards which can be used as universal travel tickets between different modes, establishing the so-called smart wallet.
