Liability shift Definition.
The transfer of fraud liability: to the issuer when the transaction was authenticated with 3-D Secure (or attempted, depending on the ECI), and to the less EMV-compliant party for in-person payments. It covers only fraud (stolen card, impersonation), never commercial disputes, which the cardholder can still charge back. It is the economic incentive that drove adoption of the chip, then of 3DS.
See also
Where this term appears
GuidePayment regulationGuidePayment cardsGuideIn-store paymentsGuideEMV and card securityGuideCard payment codes and identifiersGuideMerchant agreements and onboardingGuideTransaction data and approval ratesGuideManaging tokenized cardsGuide3-D Secure 2 and SCA exemptionsGuideReason codesGuideDisputes from the merchant sideGuideFraud prevention and tooling