European Payments Council: first status report on Single Euro Payments Area.

03 April 2003

The European Payments Council (EPC) approved 2 market conventions that will be key tools to meet the 1st July 2003 deadline in the Regulation. The CREDEURO Convention establishes a standard for the execution of a “basic” bank to bank pan-European credit transfer. The Interbank Charging Principles (ICP) Convention establishes a standard procedure for achieving end-to-end certainty in charging methods, and allowing for the instructed amount to be credited to the beneficiary customer in full.

EPC Members approved the Pan-European Automated Clearing House (PE-ACH) as the preferred model of the industry for credit and debit transfers.

The fully integrated European payments infrastructure will be achieved in steps. First, for credit transfers, in combination with existing clearing and settlement systems, then a pan-European infrastructure, that bridges current domestic and cross-border payments, will develop.

EPC Members also endorsed a resolution by which they commit to lead the realisation of a Single European Card Market

Finally, EPC Members approved a resolution that recommends moving forward to develop joint cash and card strategies.

EPC press release
A full information package of the EPC can be downloaded from the EPC website

NA