|
|
The Commission and the ECB have encouraged the EPC to move ahead with the launch of the SEPA Direct Debit scheme. Both institutions indicated to the EPC that they would be prepared to support the idea of a 'multilateral interchange fee' for cross border direct debits within the framework of the SEPA scheme on condition that such fees were objectively justified and transitional.
In order for SEPA Direct Debit to take off, the right incentives should be in place. In particular, banking communities where an interchange fee for national transactions exists could be allowed to apply this fee at national level also for SEPA Direct Debit transactions, but only during a limited and well defined transitional phase. At the end of the transitional phase there would no longer be any transaction-based multilateral interchange fee, neither at the national level, nor at the cross border level, neither for SEPA Direct Debits, nor for national 'legacy' Direct Debits.
Direct debit schemes allow bank customers to give companies or organisations authorisation to take money directly from their bank accounts to pay their bills. Currently there are separate national direct debit schemes and it is not possible to establish direct debit arrangements across frontiers in Europe.