[ParlTrack]

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 4

(4) A number of national regulatory solutions have already been adopted or proposed to increase the uptake of instant credit transfers in euro, including by strengthening PSUs’ protection from sending funds to an unintended payee or specifying the process of compliance with obligations flowing from Union, EU Member States, United Nations and United States of America sanctions. Those national regulatory solutions pose a risk of fragmentation of the internal market, thus increasing the compliance costs due to different sets of national regulatory requirements, and making the execution of cross-border instant credit transfers more difficult.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

Ivars IJABS, Billy KELLEHER

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11

(11) Security of instant credit transfers in euro is fundamental for increasing PSUs’ confidence in such services and ensuring their use. Payers intending to send a credit transfer to a given payee may, as a result of fraud or error, provide a payment account identifier which does not correspond to an account held by that payee. Under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council37 , the only determinant of the correct execution of the transaction with respect to the payee is the unique identifier, and PSPs are not required to verify the name of the payee. In the case of instant credit transfers, there is not enough time for the payer to realise the occurrence of a fraud or error and to try to recover the funds before they are credited to the payee’s account. ~~PSPs~~Before the authorisation of an instant credit transfer in line with this regulation, PSPs of the payer and the payee should therefore verify whether there is any discrepancy between the unique identifier of the payee and the name of the payee provided by the payer~~, and~~. The PSP of the payer must request the verification from the PSP of the payee, the PSP of the payee must notify the PSP of the payer about the result and the PSP of the payer must notify the payer placing a payment order for an instant credit transfer in euro about any ~~such~~ discrepancies detected for an instant credit transfer in accordance with this regulation. To avoid undue frictions or delays in the processing of the transaction instantly, the payer’s PSP should provide such notification with~~in no more than a few seconds~~out delay from the moment the payer provided the payee information. To allow the payer to decide whether to proceed with the intended transaction, the payer’s PSP should provide such notification before the payer authorises the transaction. __________________ 37 Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

Ivars IJABS

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11 a (new)

(11a) Instant credit transfers used for the purchasing of goods and services in shops or online should be excluded from the scope of this requirement. Or. en (Art 5c)

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

Ivars IJABS

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 14

(14) It is of critical importance that PSPs effectively comply with their obligations stemming from Union, EU Member States, United Nations and United States of America sanctions against persons, bodies or entities that are subject to an asset freeze or a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to it, or for its benefit, either directly or indirectly, pursuant to restrictive measures adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU (listed persons or entities). Union law, however, does not lay down rules on the procedure or tools to be used by PSPs to ensure their compliance with those obligations. PSPs thus apply various methods, based on their individual choice or on the guidance provided by the national authorities concerned. The practice of complying with obligations stemming from Union EU Member States, United Nations and United States of America sanctions by screening the payer and the payee involved in each credit transfer transaction, either national or cross-border, leads to a very high number of credit transfers being flagged as potentially involving listed persons or entities. However, the large majority of such flagged transactions turn out, after verification, not to involve any such persons or entities. Due to the nature of instant credit transfers, it is impossible for PSPs to verify, within short time limits, such flagged transactions instantly and, as a result, they are rejected. That situation creates operational challenges for PSPs to offer instant credit transfers to their PSUs across the Union in a reliable and predictable way. To provide for greater legal certainty, increase the efficiency of PSPs’ efforts to comply with their obligations stemming from Union, EU Member States, United Nations and United States of America sanctions in the context of instant credit transfers in euro, and to prevent unnecessary hindering of such transactions, PSPs should thus verify, at least daily, whether their PSUs are listed persons or entities, and should no longer apply transaction-based screening.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

Ivars IJABS

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15

(15) To prevent the initiation of instant credit transfers from payment accounts belonging to listed persons or entities and to immediately freeze funds sent to such accounts, PSPs should carry out verifications of their PSUs as soon as possible following the entry into force of a new restrictive measure adopted in accordance with Article 215 TFEU providing for asset freeze or prohibition of making funds or economic resources available, thus ensuring that PSPs comply with their obligations stemming from Union, EU Member States, United Nations and United States of America sanctions in an effective manner.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

Ivars IJABS

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 16

(16) Failure of one PSP to carry out timely verifications of its PSUs could result in a failure of the other PSP involved in carrying out the same instant credit transfer transaction to freeze funds of a listed person or entity or not to make funds or economic resources available to such person or entity. PSPs that incur penalties for non-compliance with their obligations stemming from Union, EU Member States, United Nations and United States of America sanctions due to the failure of another PSP to carry out timely verifications of its PSUs should be compensated for those penalties by that PSP.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

Ivars IJABS

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 17

(17) The infringements of this Regulation should be subject to penalties, imposed by the competent authorities of the Member States. Such penalties should be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. To facilitate the mutual trust of PSPs and the relevant competent authorities in the uniform and thorough implementation of a harmonised approach to compliance with PSP obligations stemming from Union, EU Member States, United Nations and United States of America sanctions, it is in particular appropriate to harmonise across the Union the minimum levels for penalties for the infringement by PSPs of their obligations to verify whether their PSUs are listed persons or entities.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

Ivars IJABS

Proposal for a regulation
Recital 18

(18) PSPs need sufficient time to meet the obligations laid down in this Regulation. It is therefore appropriate to introduce those obligations gradually, allowing PSPs a more efficient use of their resources. The obligation to offer the service of sending instant credit transfers should therefore apply later, preceded by the obligation to offer the service of receiving instant credit transfers, since the sending of instant credit transfers tends to be more costly and complex of the two services to implement and therefore necessitates more time. The service of notifying detected discrepancies between the name and payment account identifier of the payee to the payer is only relevant for PSPs offering the service of sending instant credit transfers. The obligation to offer that service should therefore apply from the same time as the obligation to offer the service of sending instant credit transfers. The obligations related to charges and harmonised procedure to ensure compliance with obligations stemming from Union, EU Member States, United Nations and United States of America sanctions should apply as soon as PSPs are obliged to offer the service of receiving instant credit transfers. To allow PSPs located in Member States whose currency is not the euro to efficiently allocate the resources needed for the implementation of instant credit transfers in euro, the obligations laid down in this Regulation should apply to such PSPs as of a later date than to PSPs located in Member States whose currency is the euro with the same gradual approach for introducing various obligations as for PSPs located in the euro area.

2023/04/21
Committee: ECON

Ivars IJABS, Ondřej KOVAŘÍK, Martin HLAVÁČEK