SEPA Operational Framework
Regulatory framework
Law 3862/2010 has transposed the Directive 2007/64/EC into the Greek legislation, which established common rules for the payments market in 30 European countries (European Union, Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein).
Law 3862/2010 covers all kinds of electronic payments, ranging from credit transfers, direct debits, card payments and money remittance to mobile and online payments. It does not cover cash and cheque payments. Payments in any European currency (not only the euro) are covered as long as the payment service providers for both the payer and the payee are located in one of the above listed countries.
Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 on cross-border payments in the Community has established equal charges for cross-border and national payments in euro, up to the value of EUR 50 000 in all EU Member States. The basic principle is that the charges for payment transactions offered by a payment service provider (e.g. your bank) have to be the same whether the payment is national or cross-border. The Regulation applies to all electronically processed payments, including credit transfers, direct debits, cash withdrawals at cash dispensers (ATMs), payments by means of debit and credit cards and money remittance.
Standards
SEPA requires the use of common pan-european standards and business practices for the fully automated and efficient processing of payment instruments. Indicatively, the following standards shall be used in SEPA payments:
The International Bank Account Number (IBAN) which is used to define the bank and the account number of a beneficiary. In SEPA, the use of IBAN is a prerequisite for the automated processing of payment orders. More information on IBAN can be found at the website of Hellenic Bank Association (in Greek).
Bank Identifier Code (BIC) is the unique identification code of a specific bank and/or bank branch, registered by the provider of electronic messaging services SWIFT.
Terms of reference and compliance of infrastructures
Infrastructures play an important role in achieving the objectives of SEPA. In its 5th progress report the Eurosystem defined four criteria that infrastructures should fulfill in order to be compliant with the needs of SEPA. The criteria refer to processing capabilities, interoperability between the banks and the infrastructures, as well as between the infrastructures themselves, reachability, i.e. sending and receiving capacity, and free choice of infrastructures by banks, based on the lack of access restrictions and transparency on the services provided and pricing. In April 2008, the Eurosystem published the Terms of reference for the SEPA-compliance of infrastructures which complement the above criteria and infrastructures have been invited to use them as guidance for self-assessment. Using common terms of reference will make the self-assessments, which should be made public, comparable for interested market players.