This part of ISO/IEC 7811 specifies characteristics for a magnetic stripe (including any protective overlay) an an identification card, the encoding technique and coded character sets. The magnetic recordings are intended for machine reading. ISO/IEC 10373 specifies the test procedures used to check cards against the parameters specified in this part of ISO/IEC 7811. This part of ISO/IEC 7811 specifies the requirements for cards used for identification. It takes into consideration both human and machine aspects and states minimum requirements.
NOTE: Numeric values in the SI and/or Imperial measurement System in this part of ISO/IEC 7811 may have been rounded off and therefore are consistent with, but not exactly equal to, each other. Either system may be used, but the two should not be intermixed or reconverted. The original design was made using the Imperial measurement system.