Considerations on COM(2001)439 - Cross-border payments in euro

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dossier COM(2001)439 - Cross-border payments in euro.
document COM(2001)439 EN
date December 19, 2001
 
(1) Directive 97/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997 on cross-border credit transfers(5) sought to improve cross-border credit transfer services and notably their efficiency. The aim was to enable in particular consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises to make credit transfers rapidly, reliably and cheaply from one part of the Community to another. Such credit transfers and cross-border payments in general are still extremely expensive compared to payments at national level. It emerges from the findings of a study undertaken by the Commission and released on 20 September 2001 that consumers are given insufficient or no information on the cost of transfers, and that the average cost of cross-border credit transfers has hardly changed since 1993 when a comparable study was carried out.

(2) The Commission's Communication to the European Parliament and the Council of 31 January 2000 on Retail Payments in the Internal Market, together with the European Parliament Resolutions of 26 October 2000 on the Commission Communication and of 4 July 2001 on means to assist economic actors in switching to the euro, and the reports of the European Central Bank of September 1999 and September 2000 on improving cross-border payment services have each underlined the urgent need for effective improvements in this field.

(3) The Commission's Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Central Bank of 3 April 2001 on the preparations for the introduction of euro notes and coins announced that the Commission would consider using all the instruments at its disposal and would take all the steps necessary to ensure that the costs of cross-border transactions were brought more closely into line with the costs of domestic transactions, thus making the concept of the euro zone as a 'domestic payment area' tangible and transparently clear to citizens.

(4) Compared with the objective that was reaffirmed when euro book money was introduced, namely to achieve an, if not uniform, at least similar charge structure for the euro, there have been no significant results in terms of reducing the cost of cross-border payments compared to internal payments.

(5) The volume of cross-border payments is growing steadily as completion of the internal market takes place. In this area without borders, payments have been further facilitated by the introduction of the euro.

(6) The fact that the level of charges for cross-border payments continues to remain higher than the level of charges for internal payments is hampering cross-border trade and therefore constitutes an obstacle to the proper functioning of the internal market. This is also likely to affect confidence in the euro. Therefore, in order to facilitate the functioning of the internal market, it is necessary to ensure that charges for cross-border payments in euro are the same as charges for payments made in euro within a Member State, which will also bolster confidence in the euro.

(7) For cross-border electronic payment transactions in euro, the principle of equal charges should apply, taking account of the adjustment periods and the institutions' extra workload relating to the transition to the euro, as from 1 July 2002. In order to allow the implementation of the necessary infrastructure and conditions, a transitional period for cross-border credit transfers should apply until 1 July 2003.

(8) At present, it is not advisable to apply the principle of uniform charges for paper cheques as by nature they cannot be processed as efficiently as the other means of payment, in particular electronic payments. However, the principle of transparent charges should also apply to cheques.

(9) In order to allow a customer to assess the cost of a cross-border payment, it is necessary that he be informed of the charges applied and any modification to them. The same holds for the case that a currency other than the euro is involved in the cross-border euro-payment transaction.

(10) This Regulation does not affect the possibility for institutions to offer an all-inclusive fee for different payment services, provided that this does not discriminate between cross-border and national payments.

(11) It is also important to provide for improvements to facilitate the execution of cross-border payments by payment institutions. In this respect, standardisation should be promoted as regards, in particular, the use of the International Bank Account Number (IBAN)(6) and the Bank Identifier Code (BIC)(7) necessary for automated processing of cross-border credit transfers. The widest use of these codes is considered to be essential. In addition, other measures which entail extra costs should be removed in order to lower the charges to customers for cross-border payments.

(12) To lighten the burden on institutions that carry out cross-border payments, it is necessary to gradually remove the obligations concerning regular national declarations for the purposes of balance-of-payments statistics.

(13) In order to ensure that this Regulation is observed, the Member States should ensure that there are adequate and effective procedures for lodging complaints or appeals for settling any disputes between the originator and his institution or between the beneficiary and his institution, where applicable using existing procedures.

(14) It is desirable that not later than 1 July 2004 the Commission should present a report on the application of this Regulation.

(15) Provision should be made for a procedure whereby this Regulation can also be applied to cross-border payments made in a currency of another Member State where that Member State so decides.