Brussels, 12/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - On 25 July, the European Commission will adopt a new regulation on cross-border payments, its spokesman's service announced on Thursday, presenting the results of a study showing that the burden of such payments has increased since 1999. The new regulation would make it compulsory for banks to fix similar tariffs for internal and cross-border transfers after the changeover to the euro, said Jonathan Todd, spokesman for Internal Market Comissioner Frits Bolkestein. Consumer Policy Commissioner David Byrne said in a press release that European consumers would not understand why they should pay so much for cross-border payments in the euro zone when the same currency is being used. He said it is necessary to make speedy improvements.
According to a study by the European Interregional Institute for Consumer Affairs, the average transfer cost went from 17.10 euros in 1999 to 17.36 euros in 2001 for a transfer of 100 euros, with reductions in some Member States such as Belgium, Germany and Finland, and an increase in others, especially Austria, where costs climbed over 64%. The average cost of a transaction for the sender varies from 8.8 euros in the Netherlands to nearly 27 euros in Portugal. Italy has very great differences within the country, with transfer costs ranging between 6.20 euros to 43.40 euros depending on the bank. What is worse is that, in 38% of the cases tested, banks have imposed charges on both the sender and the receiver of the transfers, without informing the sender as provided for in the 1997 Directive on Cross-Border payments. "I would encourage consumers to have more systematic recourse to justice in this kind of case", said Commissioner Byrne, who also recalled that the EU has set an aid system in place for settlement outside court of this kind of conflict (fin-net). (The study is available on: europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm).