Brussels, 27/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 27 March; German finance minister Peer Steinbrück said that a unanimous decision had been taken on the directive on payment services (see EUROPE 9080). Satisfied, on behalf of the German presidency, with this tangible result in the area of the internal market, Mr Steinbrück said he felt the future directive would provide a legislative framework which would help bring legal security for both economic operators and for ordinary citizens. “We already have the euro, but many people were awaiting decisions for automatic withdrawals, cross-border transfers, the simplest credits and transfers,” he said. He pointed out that “starting points were very difficult” and saluted the efforts of the previous Finnish presidency. “Thank you to the European Parliament for having twice deferred its opinion in plenary session,” he also said. The EP will endorse this political compromise at its April plenary session. The new rules will have to be applied by member states by 1 November 2009.
European finance ministers held a public debate on the draft directive. Taking care not to call the political compromise, which had been reached the previous week at a trilogue with the EP and the Commission (see EUROPE 9263), into question, they concentrated on amendments on the edges of the directive. Finland and France asked for additional points, which the Commission would have to take into account in its assessment of the impact and implementation of the future European legislation in three years' time, to be inserted in the rendez-vous clause of the legislative proposal. Finland felt this assessment should focus on timescale and nonfeasance of a payment. France wanted to send a political message by setting out in black and white the assessment of arrangements on own funds and initial capital of new payment institutions.
Italy, Spain, Belgium, Greece and Portugal supported the French and/or Finnish proposals. “The French proposal should at least be retained,” said Didier Reynders, the Belgian finance minister. He felt that detailing the rendez-vous clause was not in itself worrying and did not go back on what the European Parliament had asked be applied. Beware of opening up a Pandora's box, nonetheless warned Austria, which, along with Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden, wanted to retain the compromise text, on which member state's ambassadors to the EU had agreed, as it was. The outcome of the review must not be decided beforehand, said Dawn Primarolo for the United Kingdom. With the French reining in what they had hoped for, both delegations finally won their point.
The aims of the future directive are: to establish the right for economic operators, other than banks, to offer payment services to the public by introducing harmonised requirements for entry to the payments market; to introduce obligations on information aimed at all payment services providers; to stipulate the rights and obligations of payment services users and suppliers, such as the time it should take to execute a transaction.
New payment institutions - which could, for example, be mobile telephone operators and major distribution companies - will be authorised to grant credit to their clients, subject to conditions. Credit should be conditional on a payment provision duly identified, it should take place in a period of time not exceeding 12 months, it should be granted on funds which are to execute a payment, the institution's own funds will always have to be appropriate with regard to the total sum in credits granted.
Mr Reynders said he would have preferred a timescale of three, rather than 12, months. He added that his country would like to go further in harmonising credit for consumption, but without using the draft directive on payment services for this end. The United Kingdom was happy with a timescale of 12 months said Ms Primarolo.
The Netherlands, finally, expressed its concern over the efficiency and cost of the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) compared with national payment systems. “Everything shows that it could lead to additional costs,” warned Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Wouter Bos. Backed by the Commission and the European Central Bank (see EUROPE 9186), SEPA is an industry-led initiative to increase the integration of payment markets in the eurozone by 2010. Some financial services, such as the credit transfer and debit payment instruments, are expected by the start of 2008. The industry, nonetheless, feels that it will not be possible to implement debit payment services before the effective application of the directive, at the end of 2009. (mb)