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Payments Regulatory Expert Group (PREG) Publishes Guidance Document on SEPA Regulation. Read this Blog to Learn How to Share Questions on this European Legislative Act with the PREG! Viewed 4483 times
07-08-2012
The European Union (EU) Regulation No. 260/2012 establishing technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro and amending Regulation EC No. 924/2009 (the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Regulation), was published in the Official Journal of the EU on 30 March 2012. The SEPA Regulation stipulates the mandatory deadlines for compliance with its rules for euro credit transfer and direct debit transactions. In the euro area, this will be 1 February 2014, subject to certain limited exemptions mentioned in the SEPA Regulation. Consequently, payment service providers and payment service users need to evaluate its impact on their day-to-day operations. On 2 August 2012, the Payments Regulatory Expert Group (PREG), which comprises of industry experts, published its industry implementation guidance document (see ‘related links' below). The guidance document provides clarity to payment service providers and payment service users on a range of practical questions related to the SEPA Regulation.
Following the model applied to develop the Payment Services Directive guide, published by this expert group in 2009, the PREG's SEPA Regulation guidance document reflects in-depth dialogue with the industry as well as other key stakeholders and institutions. The structure of this most recent guidance document allows a step by step analysis of each article included within the SEPA Regulation. Where the SEPA Regulation offers limited insight into how certain situations should be dealt with, the guidance document provides an interpretation as to what is being intended with the respective provision.
‘Frequently Asked Questions and Answers' document with regard to the SEPA Regulation in preparation: go to the EPC Newsletter article ‘Help is Here: Payments Regulatory Expert Group (PREG) Publishes Guidance Document on SEPA Regulation' and post your questions using the comment function included in the EPC Newsletter!
In addition to this guidance document, the PREG is currently developing a ‘Frequently Asked Questions and Answers' (FAQ) document with regard to the SEPA Regulation. This will be a living document intended to support all market participants required to achieve compliance with the SEPA Regulation. These forthcoming FAQs will be regularly updated. Once finalised, the latest version of the FAQs will be available from the EPC Website. Follow the EPC on Twitter and join the EPC on LinkedIn to receive notification when this FAQ document is published.
Everyone is invited to share their questions with regard to the SEPA Regulation. To share your question, please go to the EPC Newsletter article ‘Help is Here: Payments Regulatory Expert Group (PREG) Publishes Guidance Document on SEPA Regulation' (see third ‘related link' below), and post your question using the comment function in this newsletter article. Please note that these questions will not be answered in the EPC Newsletter (or on this blog), but will be logged by the PREG to be addressed in the FAQ document now in preparation.
Less than 18 months remaining to achieve compliance with the SEPA Regulation in the euro area: the time to act is now
This author reiterates that the SEPA Regulation affects not only payment service providers, but also payment service users such as corporates, small and medium sized enterprises, public administrations and government agencies. Article 16 of the SEPA Regulation permits individual EU Member States to extend the deadline for compliance with some of its provisions to 1 February 2016. It is however, strongly recommended that payment service users analyse the impact of the SEPA Regulation on their operational models now, even if EU Member States opt to make use of the derogations permissible under Article 16. To date, the experience of early movers handling major payment volumes indicates that migration to SEPA Schemes and technical standards requires careful planning. The relevant actions and resources should be identified as soon as possible.
Ruth Wandhöfer chairs the PREG. She also chairs the EPC Information Security Support Group.
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Previous entries
08.05.13If You Have not Migrated to SEPA Yet – Act Now!
06.11.12New Rulebook Versions and Associated Implementation Guidelines Take Effect on 17 November 2012
25.10.12To Anyone Who Has Not Yet Started the Process of Getting Ready for SEPA by 1.2.2014: Act Now!
10.09.12Let´s Talk About SEPA Direct Debit: Migration is Manageable. The Time to Act is Now