EU Commission publish draft regulation

07 December 2010

The EU Commission published a draft regulation to set the date for migration of national schemes of credit transfer and direct debit to SEPA schemes.

December 2010

When the proposal passes through the European Parliament, the SEPA countdown clock will start to tick, with a 1-year countdown for Credit Transfers and 2 years for Direct Debits.  The regulation may be passed earlier, but a mid-2011 date is considered most likely.

Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell of the European Central Banks told the Financial Times that she "very much welcomed" the EC proposal.  She has been a long-time campaigner for such a move.

These dates will have significant impact for all business users of credit transfer and direct debits.  Systems which link with banks will have to be changed to use the new standards, and IBAN & BIC numbers will become the norm.