schemeReferenceID

This is a unique transaction identifier provided directly from the card schemes like VISA and MC in order to uniquely reference a transaction in the whole payment ecosystem. It was introduced initially by VISA in accordance to their Framework specifications like COF (Credential On File) and MIT (Merchant Initiated Transactions), relevant to use cases involving transaction types such as Recurring, UCOF (MIT), Incremental, Delayed Authorization, Resubmission etc.

With the release of EMV 3DS specifications it came as a requirement also for MasterCard to make use of such a unique identifier which they called “traceID” or “grandfathering ID”. The logic behind it, is that the Issuer could rely on this identifier to link the initial payment with all the subsequent ones related to a standing order in a COF or MIT regime. This will allow the Issuer to apply different transaction rules (i.e. no CVV/CVC, no additional authentication in EMV 3DS) for all the subsequent payments.

In the current situation for Mastercard/Maestro transactions on which the initial payment (Establishment of an Agreement) has been put in place prior to enforcement date of the regulation, merchants have not been provided with the “schemeReferenceID” in authorization responses.  will require those merchants dealing with the above use cases to align with their acquirer on the usage of the card-scheme approved static value "grandfathering" in all the subsequent (COF/MIT) transactions.

For Initial payments (Establishment of an Agreement) after enforcement date of the PSD2 regulation the merchants
must save the “schemeReferenceID” value provided in the response and submit it to  in all the subsequent payments related to that Initial agreement. As for VISA the “schemeReferenceID” will be the equivalent of the previous  parameter “TransactionID” that the merchants are currently submitting in accordance to COF & MIT Frameworks.