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SEPA Regulation published in Official Journal of the European Union. This Regulation Effectively Mandates Migration to SEPA by 1 February 2014 in the Euro Area. 30-03-2012

On 30 March 2012, the ‘Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 establishing technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro and amending Regulation (EC) No 924/2009' (the SEPA Regulation) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union (EU) (see first link below). 

On 28 February 2012, the Council of the EU (the Council) representing EU Member States adopted the SEPA Regulation. The European Parliament adopted this Regulation on 14 February 2012. Under the ordinary legislative procedure (formerly known as co-decision), EU legislation is adopted by the Council (made up of representatives of the 27 EU Member States) and the European Parliament (made up of 754 directly elected members).

The SEPA Regulation defines 1 February 2014 as the deadline in the euro area for compliance with the core provisions of this Regulation. Effectively, this means that as of this date, existing national euro credit transfer and direct debit schemes will be replaced by SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and SEPA Direct Debit (SDD).