scope:

This part of ISO/IEC 7816 specifies an application in a card. This application contains information on cryptographic functionality. This part of ISO/IEC 7816 defines a common syntax and format for the cryptographic information and mechanisms to share this information whenever appropriate. The opbjectives of this part of ISO/IEC 7816 are to: - facilitate interoperability among components running on various platforms (platform neutral); - enable applications in the outside world to take advantage of products and components from multiple manufactures (vendor neutral); - enable the use of advances in technology without rewriting application-level software (application neutral): and - maintain consistency with existing, related standards while expanding upon them only where necessary and practical.