ARM, Giesecke & Devrient and Gemalto win EU Approval for JV to increase smartphone, tablet  and smart TV security – including mobile payments.

The venture between the British chip maker, along with the German and Dutch security specialists hopes to create a common security standard for consumer electronics devices.

The European Commission said that is has given conditional approval under EU merger legislation for the companies to create a ‘trusted execution environment’ that would run alongside the main operating system, including Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

ARM is obliged to share its architecture with competitors who might wish to develop alternatives and design any potential solutions in a way that would not hinder the competition.

A statement from the Commission “concluded that the commitments would ensure that the merged entity would face competition from a number of strong actual or potential competitors and that customers would still have sufficient alternative suppliers. The decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments.”