BEUC position on New Legal Framework for Payments

05 March 2004

BEUC, the European Consumers’ Organisation, published its position on the Commissions communication on payments in Europe. According to BEUC, many consumers cannot benefit concretely from the Single Euro Payments Area. Enforcement of existing legislation will not be enough and binding instruments backed with appropriate sanctions are needed.

The position paper states that the current state of play regarding the creation of a Single Euro Payments Area is unsatisfactory. The Regulation on cross-border payments in Euros needs to be implemented consistently. Any innovative interpretation of it by the banking sector must be banned.

The Commission and the European Central Bank should be more proactive, since an efficient cross-border payments system does not seem to be in place. According to a recently conducted survey on the implementation of the Regulation banks have largely failed to deliver.

Full paper

© BEUC