Brussels, 26/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - There have been several reactions to the vote at the European Parliament on Tuesday on the draft directive on payment services (see EUROPE 9413).
In a press release, the European Banking Federation (EBF) welcomes the adoption of the Payment Services Directive (PSD) by the European Parliament. 'Banks (have) finally (been given) the legal basis on which they can fully develop and implement the Single Euro Payments Area,' (SEPA), said Guido Ravoet, EBF Secretary General. The EBF congratulates the German presidency 'for its proposal which has allowed for this crucial development following a renewed, complete and professional consultation process. Although the EBF acknowledges that some fine-tuning may be necessary at the time of implementation, it approves the compromise which has been reached on some key aspects of the proposal… The foreseen implementation of the PSD in November 2009 means that the SEPA direct debits can be launched following the successful implementation of the PSD across SEPA countries, although they will be delayed as compared to the original deadline set for January 2008. However, the other two aspects of SEPA, the pan-European card framework and the pan-European credit transfer, will be operational as planned as of January 2008.'
In a press release, Peter Ayliffe, President and CEO of Visa Europe, said: 'I congratulate the European Parliament on today's vote, which demonstrates that EU legislators strongly support the payment industry's SEPA project… As a strong believer in the benefits that a truly internal market in payments would bring, I would have hoped for a greater level of harmonisation… The complex nature of the directive will mean that the next big challenge will be the implementation in the 27 member states.' He added: 'Visa Europe's commitment to SEPA is not just lip service. From 1 January 2007, one year ahead of the deadline, we have been fully compliant with the SEPA requirements for cards.' (mb)