CopyLegislation

The legislative framework for the SEPA project was given by the adoption of European Parliament and Council Regulation (EU) No. 260/2012, establishing technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro and amending EC Regulation 924/2009. By this regulation of 14 March 2012 it has been set a deadline for the transition to SEPA credit transfers and SEPA direct debits, 1. February 2014.

Legislative support for the SEPA project also creates a directive on payment services (called. Payment Services Directive) that has been transposed into national legislation of the EU Member States. The directive was transposed in the context of the SR in particular into Act No. 492/2009 Coll. on Payment Services and on amendments to certain laws of 4 November, 2009.

The implementation of SEPA payment instruments in SR was governed by the Implementation plan for the introduction of SEPA in the SR (version 4.0)

Key requirements of transition to SEPA within the meaning of regulation 260/2012

Each country migrating to the SEPA had to ensure migration to SEPA payment instruments in accordance with regulation 260/2012. This was particularly the compliance with the following harmonized requirements:

• the same rules and standards for retail payments in euro

The regulation lays down the common rules, standards and technical requirements for all credit transfers and direct debits denominated in euro within the EU.

• the use of IBAN format account number

In the so-called interbank communication, i.e. between payment service providers, the IBAN was used for all payment transactions, that is, as a domestic (within the SR), as well as cross-border.

• ISO 20022XML standard messages

In the framework of the SEPA the communication between payment service providers is based on the ISO20022.