What format and length does EMV tag BF4E use?

Tag BF4E uses the Binary format and is normally variable long.

Is tag BF4E provided by the card or the terminal?

Tag BF4E (Biometric Terminal Capabilities Template) is provided by the Terminal.

BF4E

Biometric Terminal Capabilities Template

Biometric Terminal Capabilities Template is where a terminal states, in detail, what biometric verification it can actually perform - the terminal-side counterpart to whatever biometric options a card requests, related to the Biometric Solution ID (9F30) and to Terminal Capabilities (9F33, both covered earlier), whose own biometric-support bits are the coarse, one-bit-per-method summary that BF4E fills in with actual detail, which specific solutions, not just whether biometrics are supported at all. A terminal that sets the biometric-support bits in 9F33 without a correctly populated BF4E behind them has advertised a capability it can't actually back up with the specifics a card needs to decide whether that capability is usable for this specific verification - the same class of capability-versus-declaration mismatch already discussed for Terminal Capabilities and Additional Terminal Capabilities earlier in this dictionary, just applied to the biometric CVM path specifically. See EMV 4.4 Book 3.

Interactive decoder

Paste a hex value for this tag to decode it in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Nested TLV objects

01primitive · 1 byte
00

This tag is not a bitmap; the decoder shows a format-based interpretation.

Decoded example

Example value: 010100

Nested TLV objects

01primitive · 1 byte
00

Related tags

Properties

Tag	BF4E
Name	Biometric Terminal Capabilities Template
Format	Binary
Length	variable
Source	Terminal
Templates	—
Books	EMV 4.4 Book 3

Frequently asked questions

What is EMV tag BF4E?: Biometric Terminal Capabilities Template is where a terminal states, in detail, what biometric verification it can actually perform - the terminal-side counterpart to whatever biometric options a card requests, related to the Biometric Solution ID (9F30) and to Terminal Capabilities (9F33, both covered earlier), whose own biometric-support bits are the coarse, one-bit-per-method summary that BF4E fills in with actual detail, which specific solutions, not just whether biometrics are supported at all. A terminal that sets the biometric-support bits in 9F33 without a correctly populated BF4E behind them has advertised a capability it can't actually back up with the specifics a card needs to decide whether that capability is usable for this specific verification - the same class of capability-versus-declaration mismatch already discussed for Terminal Capabilities and Additional Terminal Capabilities earlier in this dictionary, just applied to the biometric CVM path specifically. See EMV 4.4 Book 3.
What format and length does EMV tag BF4E use?: Tag BF4E uses the Binary format and is normally variable long.
Is tag BF4E provided by the card or the terminal?: Tag BF4E (Biometric Terminal Capabilities Template) is provided by the Terminal.

Sources

EMV_v4.4_Book_3_Application_Specification, p. 142

AID Parameter Table parser Public Key Table parser

All EMV tags

Receive site updates

Subscribe to receive site updates directly to your email

We won't send spam. You can unsubscribe at any time.