An end date for SEPA migration would get all stakeholders on board and in sync. “It would send a strong signal to all stakeholders. Doing nothing is not an option since legacy payment services will not be available anymore from a certain date”, says Björn Flismark, Seniro advisor at SEB, deputy chairman of the Euro Banking Association and member of the European Payments Council.
The move towards SEPA seems to be a slow one. SEPA Credit Transfers(SCT) started in January 2008 and two years later only six per cent of payments are done through SCT. The SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) has only been operational since November 2009 with very few Direct Debits being processed.
Is this the right time to talk about legislation on end date for SEPA migration?
“There are some that think so, among others the new commissioner for the Internal Market and the European Parliament for example”, Flismark says.
The new Commissioner Barnier said in January that he intends to propose legislation with the objective of setting one or more deadlines for migration to SEPA products for direct debits and credit transfers. The European Parliament adopted a resolution in March 2010 asking the Commission to set a binding end date for migration to SEPA products by 31 December 2012, after which all payments in euro must be made using the SEPA standards. The Commission is now making a so called Impact Assessment. This includes choice of what type of legislation to use.
According to Björn Flismark it is most likely that this will be a regulation which is directly applicable in all EU/ EEA countries. Another important question is if there is going to be one end date or separate end dates for SCT and SDD. One idea is to have an earlier date for SCT.
“However it would make things more complicated to have two end dates”, says Flismark.
The geographic scope is primarily the Euro area even though it is likely that the regulation would also cover noneuro countries – but at a later time, perhaps one or two years later.
“The timetable for proposal on legislation is mid 2010. This means that a regulation could be adopted this autumn to come into force by the end of 2012. This is a very challenging timetable which will put a lot of pressure on all stakeholders”.
ANNA S MARCUS
Read more about SEPA in the latest SEPA newsletter:
SEPA News April 2010