Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 5 Requirements for credit transfer and direct debit transactions

1. PSPs shall carry out credit transfer and direct debit transactions in accordance with the following requirements:

(a) they must use the payment account identifier specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex for the identification of payment accounts regardless of the location of the PSPs concerned;

(b) they must use the message formats specified in point (1)(b) of the Annex, when transmitting payment transactions to another PSP or via a retail payment system;

(c) they must ensure that PSUs use the payment account identifier specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex for the identification of payment accounts, whether the payer’s PSP and the payee’s PSP or the sole PSP in the payment transaction are located in the same Member State or in different Member States;

(d) they must ensure that where a PSU that is not a consumer or a microenterprise, initiates or receives individual credit transfers or individual direct debits which are not transmitted individually, but are bundled together for transmission, the message formats specified in point (1)(b) of the Annex are used.

Without prejudice to point (b) of the first subparagraph, PSPs shall, upon the specific request of a PSU, use the message formats specified in point (1)(b) of the Annex in relation to that PSU.

2. PSPs shall carry out credit transfers in accordance with the following requirements, subject to any obligation laid down in the national law implementing Directive 95/46/EC:

(a) the payer’s PSP must ensure that the payer provides the data elements specified in point (2)(a) of the Annex;

(b) the payer’s PSP must provide the data elements specified in point (2)(b) of the Annex to the payee’s PSP;

(c) the payee’s PSP must provide or make available to the payee the data elements specified in point (2)(d) of the Annex.

3. PSPs shall carry out direct debits in accordance with the following requirements, subject to any obligation laid down in national law implementing Directive 95/46/EC:

(a) the payee’s PSP must ensure that:

(i)

the payee provides the data elements specified in point (3)(a) of the Annex with the first direct debit and one-off direct debit and with each subsequent payment transaction,

(ii)

the payer gives consent both to the payee and to the payer’s PSP (directly or indirectly via the payee), the mandates, together with later modifications or cancellation, are stored by the payee or by a third party on behalf of the payee and the payee is informed of this obligation by the PSP in accordance with Articles 41 and 42 of Directive 2007/64/EC;

(b) the payee’s PSP must provide the payer’s PSP with the data elements specified in point (3)(b) of the Annex;

(c) the payer’s PSP must provide or make available to the payer the data elements specified in point (3)(c) of the Annex;

(d) the payer must have the right to instruct its PSP:

(i)

to limit a direct debit collection to a certain amount or periodicity or both,

(ii)

where a mandate under a payment scheme does not provide for the right to a refund, to verify each direct debit transaction, and to check whether the amount and periodicity of the submitted direct debit transaction is equal to the amount and periodicity agreed in the mandate, before debiting their payment account, based on the mandate-related information,

(iii)

to block any direct debits to the payer’s payment account or to block any direct debits initiated by one or more specified payees or to authorise direct debits only initiated by one or more specified payees;

Where neither the payer nor the payee is a consumer, PSPs shall not be required to comply with point (d)(i), (ii) or (iii).

The payer’s PSP shall inform the payer of the rights referred to in point (d) in accordance with Articles 41 and 42 of Directive 2007/64/EC.

Upon the first direct debit transaction or a one-off direct debit transaction and upon each subsequent direct debit transaction, the payee shall send the mandate-related information to his or her PSP and the payee’s PSP shall transmit that mandate-related information to the payer’s PSP with each direct debit transaction.

4. In addition to the requirements referred to in paragraph 1, the payee accepting credit transfers shall communicate its payment account identifier specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex and, until 1 February 2014 for national payment transactions and until 1 February 2016 for cross-border payment transactions, but only where necessary, its PSP’s BIC to its payers, when a credit transfer is requested.

5. Before the first direct debit transaction, a payer shall communicate its payment account identifier specified in point (1)(a) of the Annex. The BIC of a payer’s PSP shall be communicated until 1 February 2014 for national payment transactions and until 1 February 2016 for cross-border payment transactions by the payer but only where necessary.

6. Where the framework agreement between the payer and the payer’s PSP does not provide for the right to a refund, the payer’s PSP shall, without prejudice to paragraph (3)(a)(ii), verify each direct debit transaction to check whether the amount of the submitted direct debit transaction is equal to the amount and periodicity agreed in the mandate before debiting the payer’s payment account, based on the mandate-related information.

7. After 1 February 2014 for national payment transactions and after 1 February 2016 for cross-border payment transactions PSPs shall not require PSUs to indicate the BIC of the PSP of a payer or of the PSP of a payee.

8. The payer’s PSP and the payee’s PSP shall not levy additional charges or other fees on the read-out process to automatically generate a mandate for those payment transactions initiated through or by means of a payment card at the point of sale, which result in direct debit.