Even though the European Commission adopted its final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on a common secured communication in the framework of the revised payment services directive (PSD2) at the end of November, the battle between it and the European Banking Authority (EBA) still does not seem to be over.
On Thursday 25 January, at a meeting of the committee on economic and monetary affairs (ECON) of the European Parliament, the Commission welcomed the “balanced solution” that had been reached – an opinion the EBA does not appear to share.
“We do not share the Commission's enthusiasm for these RTS for a whole range of reasons concerning the form, substance and procedure”, Dirk Haubrich, who heads up the EBA's Payments unit, told the MEPs.
Concerning the procedure, he criticised the fact that additional requirements had been grafted on to the Commission's final draft, without the EBA being made aware of this or being given the opportunity to take a position on them, for instance the exemption to the “fall back solution” (see EUROPE 11912). The EBA will write to the Commission to express its concerns in the next few days, he announced.
For Parliament, rapporteur Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany) said that it was a “good compromise” that fully reflected the overall spirit of the PSD2 directive. The Commission is hoping to get the green light from Parliament and the Council soon; they have until the end of February to examine the text and make any objections. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)