EU gives up on magnetic stripe credit cards
If you have magnetic stripe type of card in your wallet, you should know that EU wants to ban their use and to replace them with chip cards, which are much safer. It is a measure taken to combat counterfeiting and to increase data security.
Full transition to the new cards could take several years. "Nobody today can say precisely when the magnetic strip card disappears" said Peter Roth, the Secretary Union of German savings banks.
From 1 July 2011, supermarkets and other stores in Germany will accept only chip cards. In 2012, the Germans will be able to withdraw money from ATM only if they own a "smart chip".
Currently, these can be used only in the European Union. Not the same thing can be said about non-EU countries, such as USA and Turkey, whose ATMs only read magnetic stripe cards.