In an increasingly digital world, technology and consumer needs change rapidly. The EPC regularly updates its schemes in order to adapt and remain at the forefront of payments technology.
The EPC payment schemes are updated every two years to reflect market needs and evolutions in the technical standards developed by international standards bodies, such as the International Organization for Standardization. This evolution is guided through a transparent change-management process, open to all stakeholders:
In line with its commitment to transparency, the EPC publishes its position on each change request after the public consultation comment received during the public consultation, so that all stakeholders know why their change requests propositions were taken forward or set aside.
EPC payment scheme evolution calendar
The first step of the EPC payment scheme evolution process is the call for change requests for the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) Core, the SDD Business-to-Business (B2B) and the One-Leg Out Instant Credit Transfer (OCT Inst) rulebooks. For the 2026 change management cycle, the EPC welcomes all interested parties to submit their change requests until 31 December 2025.
The second step involves a three-month public consultation. After this 90-day public consultation the EPC reviews and consolidates the comments from this consultation. The EPC Multi-Stakeholder Groups will be consulted on the outcome of this public consultation and decisions on each submitted change request will be made towards the end of the summer of 2026.
The third step consists of the formal preparation and publication of the next version of the EPC payment scheme rulebooks and the related implementation guidelines. This step ends in November 2026.
Any stakeholder interested can submit their change requests by using this template.
- Until 31 December 2025
Call for change requests - Between March and June 2026
Three-month public consultation - November 2026
Publication of the next rulebook (entering into force in November 2027)
