SEPA

The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) was launched with the vision of harmonizing the Euro payment market. SEPA will work as a single domestic payments market in which citizens and economic actors will be able to make payments as easily and inexpensively as in their home country.

SEPA’s first milestone date was on 28 January 2008, when the SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT) became available on the market. However it has roots in the EC’s Financial Action Plan (1999) followed by the introduction of EC Regulation 2560/2001 on cross-border payments in Euros, which eliminates the difference in price between cross-border and national payments.

SEPA Direct Debit (SDD), a part of the overall Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative, is the payment instrument and scheme that from November 2009 will progressively replace currently existing domestic direct debiting schemes.

Further resources can be found on the following links :

• http://www.ecb.int/paym/sepa/html/links.en.html
• http://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/
• http://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/documents/EPC222-08%20version1.2-ShortcutSepaDirectDebit.pdf