Euro Retail Payments Board, in its first meeting, established priorities for the next three years

The board creates two working groups in its first meeting; one on post-migration issues, the other on finding Europe-wide solutions for securing electronic mandates for direct debit. The Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) believes there is „still work to be done” to ensure that all direct debit payments migrate to the Single Euro Payments Area (Sepa) by the revised deadline of August 1, but its members are now focusing on „post-migration issues” with retail payments.

The ERPB was created in December as a successor to the Sepa Council, to drive further „innovation, competition and integration” in the retail payments market. In its first meeting, held in May, the board established its priorities for the next three years.

This includes the provision of an alternative direct debit scheme in Sepa, one that excludes the unconditional right to refunds included in the existing framework.

The consumer representative on the board – which features members from the demand and supply side of the market – stressed the importance of this right, but the board as a whole agreed an alternative scheme could be launched, but only after the European Commission and European Union legislators had considered the matter.

The board insisted the scheme would need to provide „full transparency” to consumers, and could only be used for a limited range of goods and services. Moreover, there should be a cap on the maximum amount that could be collected through any direct debit in the scheme.

A second priority is the creation of „pan-European electronic mandate solutions” for direct debits. An individual or organisation can only collect money through a direct debit if they have a mandate from the payer. Electronic mandates – those without a paper-based signature – are widely used in the eurozone.

However, the process of issuing and accepting electronic mandates „are very divergent across Europe and even within national communities,” according to the ERPB.

The board agreed that „truly pan-European electronic mandate solutions needed to be found and implemented” and set up a working group for this purpose. It acknowledged this was a „longer-term” ambition, and called on the European Payments Council – the owner of the Sepa direct debit scheme – to consider amending its rules in the meantime.

For more detaile see the official statement of the first Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) meeting.