Brussels, 29/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - In a last-ditch attempt to head off the adoption of a regulation to harmonise cross-border payments by the end of the year, the European Banking Federation is suggesting a voluntary code to gradually reduce the difference in cost between domestic and cross-border payments to zero by the year 2006. In a text adopted on Friday by its board of directors, the EBF proposes that the commission levied on cross-border payments compared with domestic payments be: 1) EUR 12 in July 2002 for transfers and EUR 3 for cash withdrawals using cards; 2) in January 2004: EUR 8 for transfers and EUR 2 for cash withdrawals; 3) in January 2004, EUR 3 and EUR 1; and 4) zero in January 2006. This pledge will result in much more effective results than the draft regulation since the industry will accept it on a voluntary basis, said the EBF Secretary General, Nikolaus Bömcke. He said that they opposed a regulation because it would mean regulating the price of services, but they recognised that commission charges of EUR 24 for transferring EUR 100 across the border were too high. Ghent Summit asked the Council to adopt the regulation proposed by the Commission by the end of the year in order to make the cost of domestic transactions the same as cross-border transactions for both payments and cash card withdrawals from 1 January 2002 onwards, and for cheques and transfers between bank accounts from 1 January 2003 onwards. The EBF's proposal covers 2006 rather than 2003 and is therefore too little, too late, commented Jonathan Todd, the Spokesperson of the Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein. He added that the banks' pledge would also have to be assessed by the competition authorities from the point of view of European cartel legislation. Nikolaus Bömcke said they could have made a suggestion earlier, but that it was not easy to co-ordinate the 2 million or so European banks, but that the voluntary agreement would meet the objectives sought by the Commission in 2006.