The European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) adopted by a large majority (37 votes in favour, 3 against and 3 abstentions) on Monday 5 November the draft report prepared by Bulgarian Eva Maydell (EPP) on the proposal to harmonise the costs of cross-border payments in euros across the EU (see EUROPE 11991).
As announced (see EUROPE 12129), MEPs finally agreed to extend the alignment of fees to "all cross-border payments, when a currency conversion takes place, whether these payments are made in euros or in a national currency of a Member State other than the euro" (see EUROPE 12085).
On the 'currency conversion' aspect, MEPs agreed that the total amount of currency conversion fees applied to card payment transactions should be expressed as the difference between the exchange rate used to convert payment transactions and the latest available exchange rate of the European Central Bank, applied to the amount of transactions.
According to the text, for each currency conversion option, service providers would then be required to present this information and the total amount of the transaction - including fees and commissions received - in the currency of the payer's account, in a "clear, neutral and understandable" manner and free of charge.
It should be noted that the final text retains the inclusion of credit transfers within the scope of the Regulation.
MEPs also approved the opening of inter-institutional negotiations with the Council, which adopted its position in June (see EUROPE 12050). A first trilogue could take place as early as 19 November. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)