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A NACHA council last week issued guidelines for the use of the quick response code, a type of bar code, in consumer bill payments and is inviting financial institutions and others to participate in an "early adopter" test.

The QR code is one of four types of bar codes available now to facilitate mobile payments, and it's just one of two that are publicly available. NACHA is promoting it as a way to support and facilitate mobile payments.

The guidelines were developed by members of NACHA's Council for Electronic Billing and Payment and with industry input. They describe the use of QR codes in a variety of bill payment functions such as viewing bills, making bill payments, enrolling for eBills and setting up payees in online banking.

"The goal of the guidelines is to establish a single QR code format that can be printed on a paper bill and scanned by the consumer's mobile phone using a biller, mobile banking or generic QR code reader," NACHA said in an announcement. "In this way, billers and service providers can enable QR encoding in a standardized format, providing certainty for biller and banking clients, and ensuring a consistent experience for consumers."

The NACHA council plans to organize a test for early adopters in 2013 with billers, biller service providers, financial institutions, payment providers and others to help kick-start use of the guidelines. The test is to verify the specification and help develop market participants.

Organizations interested in participating in the QR code test should contact Robert Unger, Senior Director, eBilling and Payments, NACHA at (703) 561-3913 or runger@nacha.org by March 1, 2013.

NAFCU members can access the guidelines online; login is required.

• Quick Response Encoding for Consumer Bill Pay Guidelines, NACHA 12/2012