Brussels, 13/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - In a resolution on the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) adopted on Thursday 12 March 2009, the European Parliament called on the Commission to “set a clear, appropriate and binding end-date, which should not be later than 31 December 2012, for migrating to SEPA products; to clarify further the issue of multilateral interchange fees (MIF) for card payments; and provide legal clarity as regards the application of a MIF for cross-border direct debits”. The MEPs adopted an amendment tabled by the PES group on direct debits. The Socialists are no longer calling for a date when charges levied on national and cross-border direct debits are banned, but instead want “the definition of a transition period at the end of which it should be possible for MIFs to be maintained provided that they respect Commission guidelines. These Commission guidelines should be adopted 6 months before the launch of SEPA and should be based on an observation of costs of and charges for the services rendered between the payment service providers.” In February 2009, the ECOFIN Council expressed concern at delays in implementing the SEPA project. A joint European Commission-European Central Bank action plan might speed up the arrival of cross-border payment services that are as cheap, fast and easy as national payments. (M.B. trans fl)