Contactless limit
Also known as: Contactless payment limit, Tap limit
The contactless limit is the amount above which a tap payment needs extra authentication. Under the EU's SCA rules, the card issuer may skip it for taps up to €50, until €150 in total or five taps in a row have built up since the last time it was applied.
Last reviewed
Example
After several small taps, a card asks for a PIN on a €12 payment because the running total or tap count has hit its ceiling.
You tap, tap, tap. Then the machine asks for a PIN on a coffee. That is the contactless limit working as designed.
What the EU rule says
Strong customer authentication is the default for electronic payments in the EU. Article 11 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389 carves out contactless payments at a point of sale. A payment service provider may skip authentication when two conditions hold.
First, "the individual amount of the contactless electronic payment transaction does not exceed EUR 50".
Second, one of two running counters has not been passed since authentication was last applied: either the total of previous contactless payments does not exceed EUR 150, or no more than five contactless payments have been made in a row. The EBA has said these are alternatives, a limit by amount or a limit by number, not both at once.
Two things people get wrong
The figures are a ceiling on the exemption, not an obligation. The Article lets providers skip authentication. It does not oblige them to. An issuer can set lower limits, and national practice differs, so the number you see on your own card can be well under €50 or reset sooner.
The running counter sits with the card issuer. Terminals also carry a contactless ceiling set by the card schemes, so a large tap may be refused at the terminal before the issuer sees it.
As of October 2026 these are the figures in force. A new payments package is moving through the EU legislative process, so check the current text before you quote them in a contract.
For a merchant, the practical point is simple. A customer who is asked for a PIN at €20 is not seeing a fault. They are seeing a counter.