Brussels, 01/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - As announced in EUROPE 9071, the European Commission unveiled a draft directive to create a Single Payments Area in the EU. On 1 December, Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told reporters: "Easier, cheaper, faster payments - the Single Payment Area will benefit each and every European, and bring big-money savings to EU economy to the tune of €50-100 billion a year. Being able to pay for goods and services anywhere in the EU as you would do at home will bring a whole new dimension to everyone's purchases and will make Europe even more an everyday reality for us all. The simple, reliable legal framework we are proposing today is a big step forward to making all this a reality. We will work with the industry and ECB as closely as possible to make sure it happens by 2010. I count on the banking industry, which is responsible for removing the technical barriers which stand in the way of a Single Euro Payment Area, to accelerate its work." The aim is to make cross-border payments - by credit card, debit card, electronic bank transfer, direct debit or any other means - as easy, cheap and secure as 'national' payments within one Member State. The proposed Directive aims to establish a modern and harmonised legal framework for an integrated payments market in the EU. This common set of rules will enable consumers to shop around on the basis of an informed choice. The Directive applies to all Member States and all EU currencies, while providing the necessary legal platform for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) proposed by the European Payments Council. In July this year, McCreevy expressed frustration at delays in implementing the European Payments Council's recommendations, hoping a draft directive on payments could be unveiled before the end of the year (see EUROPE 8995).
The SEPA will apply to all Member States, whether in the eurozone or not. Charlie McCreevy said there were no legal reasons for the SEPA not to apply to the EU25 and this would not clash with the rules underlying the eurozone. He added that the SEPA would be of benefit to all citizens, going beyond simply favouring the financial industry. Some banks are reluctant about the idea of applying the SEPA in a harmonised manner throughout all 25 Member States, concerned that this will eat into their profit margins. Mr McCreevy nonetheless said that this new European area would be a good way to “make a packet” and that, at any rate, “those who do not wish to apply it will soon be replaced by others”. Another area of concern to banks is the “one day + one” rule. This principle set out in the directive provides for the money to appear on the account of the person concerned one day after the transaction at the latest. In this field also, there are great differences between Member States, with some countries providing for a transaction to take up to three days. The new legal framework therefore aims at harmonising the situation and “banking institutions will have to come to grips with this”, Mr McCreevy explained. With this proposal, the Commission urges in favour of electronic payment to the detriment of payments by cheque or in cash which, as far as Mr McCreevy is concerned, “are sometimes inefficient and very costly”.
The proposal for a directive has still to be submitted to Council and Parliament (codecision procedure). It comes in the wake of public consultation initiated by the Commission in 2004 (see EUROPE 8597) and an impact assessment study published in 2005.