All current and future SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) and/or SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst) scheme participants affected by the amended SEPA Regulation provisions on verification of payee must adhere to the VOP scheme and register into and fund the EPC Directory Service (EDS), for an initial period of 3 years starting from October 2025, to ensure VOP cross-border reachability and interoperability in accordance with the provisions of the amended SEPA Regulation.
Some PSPs might not (yet) be affected by the amended SEPA Regulation provisions on verification of payee (e.g., because they are located in one of the three non-EU member states of the EEA), or might decide to not adhere to the VOP scheme (and EDS) for other reasons.
To this end, the EPC established a formal opt-out possibility for SCT and/or SCT Inst scheme participants from adhering to the VOP scheme in 2025, and from registering in and funding the EDS. Scheme participants wishing to use this opt-out, must declare it by 31 January 2025 close of business, clarifying the reason for opting out.
Possible reasons for opting out can be:
- The scheme participant is located in an EU Member State outside the Euro Area and is not yet impacted by the verification of payee obligations stemming from the amended SEPA regulation and entering into force on 9 October 2025.
- The amended SEPA Regulation is not applicable to the concerned scheme participant (e.g., the scheme participant offers accounts that do not fall under the definition of 'payment account’ in line with applicable EU law and jurisprudence).
- The country in which the scheme participant is based is not subject to the new requirements of the amended SEPA Regulation (e.g., it is located outside of the EEA, Norway, Liechtenstein or Iceland) and it has not yet introduced equivalent requirements at local level.
- The scheme participant plans to terminate its adherence to the SCT or to the SCT Inst scheme before 9 October 2025.
The concrete 2025 termination date must then be communicated so that the Register of SCT/SCT Inst scheme participants can be updated accordingly. - Other.
More details can be found here.