Directive 2007/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market amending Directives 97/7/EC, 2002/65/EC, 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 97/5/EC (Text with EEA relevance)

• Published date: 05 December 2007
• Official Gazette Publication: Official Journal of the European Union, L 319, 05 December 2007

2007L0064 — EN — 07.12.2009 — 001.001

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This document is meant purely as a documentation tool and the institutions do not assume any liability for its contents

►B DIRECTIVE 2007/64/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market amending Directives 97/7/EC, 2002/65/EC, 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 97/5/EC(Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p.1)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	DIRECTIVE 2009/111/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL Text with EEA relevance of 16 September 2009	L 302	97	17.11.2009

Corrected by:

►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 187, 18.7.2009, p. 5 (07/64)

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▼B

DIRECTIVE 2007/64/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 13 November 2007

on payment services in the internal market amending Directives 97/7/EC, 2002/65/EC, 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 97/5/EC

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first and third sentences of Article 47(2) and Article 95 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having consulted the European Economic and Social Committee,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (1),

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),

Whereas:

(1) It is essential for the establishment of the internal market that all internal frontiers in the Community be dismantled so as to enable the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital. The proper operation of the single market in payment services is therefore vital. At present, however, the lack of harmonisation in this area hinders the operation of that market.

(2) Currently, the payment services markets of the Member States are organised separately, along national lines and the legal framework for payment services is fragmented into 27 national legal systems.

(3) Several Community acts have already been adopted in this area, namely Directive 97/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997 on cross-border credit transfers (3) and Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2001 on cross-border payments in euro (4), but these have not sufficiently remedied this situation any more than have Commission Recommendation 87/598/EEC of 8 December 1987 on a European Code of Conduct relating to electronic payment (relations between financial institutions, traders and service establishments, and consumers) (5), Commission Recommendation 88/590/EEC of 17 November 1988 concerning payment systems, and in particular the relationship between cardholder and card issuer (6), or Commission Recommendation 97/489/EC of 30 July 1997 concerning transactions by electronic payment instruments and in particular the relationship between issuer and holder (7). These measures continue to be insufficient. The co-existence of national provisions and an incomplete Community framework gives rise to confusion and a lack of legal certainty.

(4) It is vital, therefore, to establish at Community level a modern and coherent legal framework for payment services, whether or not the services are compatible with the system resulting from the financial sector initiative for a single euro payments area, which is neutral so as to ensure a level playing field for all payment systems, in order to maintain consumer choice, which should mean a considerable step forward in terms of consumer cost, safety and efficiency, as compared with the present national systems.

(5) That legal framework should ensure the coordination of national provisions on prudential requirements, the access of new payment service providers to the market, information requirements, and the respective rights and obligations of payment services users and providers. Within that framework, the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001, which created a single market for euro payments as far as prices are concerned, should be maintained. The provisions of Directive 97/5/EC and the recommendations made in Recommendations 87/598/EEC, 88/590/EEC and 97/489/EC should be integrated in a single act with binding force.

(6) However, it is not appropriate for that legal framework to be fully comprehensive. Its application should be confined to payment service providers whose main activity consists in the provision of payment services to payment service users. Nor is it appropriate for it to apply to services where the transfer of funds from the payer to the payee or their transport is executed solely in bank notes and coins or where the transfer is based on a paper cheque, paper-based bill of exchange, promissory note or other instrument, paper-based vouchers or cards drawn upon a payment service provider or other party with a view to placing funds at the disposal of the payee. Furthermore, a differentiation should be made in the case of means offered by telecommunication, information technology or network operators to facilitate purchasing of digital goods or services, such as ring tones, music or digital newspapers, besides traditional voice services and their distribution to digital devices. The content of these goods or services may be produced either by a third party or by the operator, who may add intrinsic value to them in the form of access, distribution or search facilities. In the latter case, where the goods or services are distributed by one of those operators, or, for technical reasons, by a third party, and where they can be used only through digital devices, such as mobile phones or computers, that legal framework should not apply as the activity of the operator goes beyond a mere payment transaction. However, it is appropriate for that legal framework to apply to cases where the operator acts only as an intermediary who simply arranges for payment to be made to a third-party supplier.

(7) Money remittance is a simple payment service that is usually based on cash provided by a payer to a payment service provider, which remits the corresponding amount, for example via communication network, to a payee or to another payment service provider acting on behalf of the payee. In some Member States supermarkets, merchants and other retailers provide to the public a corresponding service enabling the payment of utility and other regular household bills. Those bill-paying services should be treated as money remittance as defined in this Directive, unless the competent authorities consider the activity to fall under another payment service listed in the Annex.

(8) It is necessary to specify the categories of payment service providers which may legitimately provide payment services throughout the Community, namely, credit institutions which take deposits from users that can be used to fund payment transactions and which should continue to be subject to the prudential requirements under Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (8), electronic money institutions which issue electronic money that can be used to fund payment transactions and which should continue to be subject to the prudential requirements under Directive 2000/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on the taking-up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions (9), and post office giro institutions which are so entitled under national law.

(9) This Directive should lay down rules on the execution of payment transactions where the funds are electronic money, as defined in Article 1(3)(b) of Directive 2000/46/EC. This Directive should, however, neither regulate issuance of electronic money nor amend the prudential regulation of electronic money institutions as provided for in Directive 2000/46/EC. Therefore, payment institutions should not be allowed to issue electronic money.

(10) However, in order to remove legal barriers to market entry, it is necessary to establish a single licence for all providers of payment services which are not connected to taking deposits or issuing electronic money. It is appropriate, therefore, to introduce a new category of payment service providers, ‘payment institutions’, by providing for the authorisation, subject to a set of strict and comprehensive conditions, of legal persons outside the existing categories to provide payment services throughout the Community. Thus, the same conditions would apply Community-wide to such services.

(11) The conditions for granting and maintaining authorisation as payment institutions should include prudential requirements proportionate to the operational and financial risks faced by such bodies in the course of their business. In this connection, there is a need for a sound regime of initial capital combined with ongoing capital which could be elaborated in a more sophisticated way in due course depending on the needs of the market. Due to the range of variety in the payments services area, this Directive should allow various methods combined with a certain range of supervisory discretion to ensure that the same risks are treated the same way for all payment service providers. The requirements for the payment institutions should reflect the fact that payment institutions engage in more specialised and limited activities, thus generating risks that are narrower and easier to monitor and control than those that arise across the broader spectrum of activities

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