17 Financial
services: Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA)
| (35724)
5210/14
COM(13) 937
| Draft Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No. 260/2012 as regards the migration to Union-wide credit transfers and direct debits
|
| Legal base
| Article 114 TFEU; co-decision; QMV
|
| Document originated
| 9 January 2014
|
| Deposited in Parliament
| 14 January 2014
|
| Department
| HM Treasury
|
| Basis of consideration
| EM of 25 January 2014
|
| Previous Committee Report
| None
|
| Discussion in Council
| February 2014
|
| Committee's assessment
| Politically important
|
| Committee's decision
| Cleared
|
Background
17.1 Regulation (EU) No. 260/2012,
part of the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) project, sets deadlines
for banks that handle euro payments via direct debits and credit
transfers to do so using a common electronic format and computer
language (ISO 20222, XML). It does not apply to payments in sterling,
or to cash, plastic cards or cheques. It will make banks' systems
interoperable so that payments in euros can be processed electronically
from start to finish anywhere in the EU by automated systems.
17.2 The Regulation set 1 February
as the end-date in the eurozone for the migration of domestic
as well as intra-EU credit transfers and direct debits in euros.
The document
17.3 The Commission proposes this
draft Regulation to postpone the implementation date of Regulation
(EU) No. 260/2012 for six months, from 1 February until 1 August,
because a number of eurozone Member States are unlikely to meet
the February deadline. The Commission presents the draft Regulation
as a so-called quick fix legislative proposal, as permitted by
Article 4 of Protocol 1 of the Lisbon Treaty, and asks the Council
and the European Parliament to adopt it as a matter of urgency.
The Government's view
17.4 The Financial Secretary to
the Treasury (Sajid Javid) says that:
· from
a purely policy perspective, the Government does not see any reason
to object to this draft Regulation;
· as
the Government has taken advantage of the derogation offered in
Regulation (EU) No. 260/2012 and implemented a longer end date
of 2016, the postponement does not give rise to any problems for
the UK;
· a
number of other non-eurozone Member States also took advantage
of the derogation and have confirmed that they do not object to
the proposal;
· ensuring
that the complete transition is a smooth as possible is of benefit
to the UK, which has fully signed up to the SEPA project of which
the Regulations is part; and
· the
Government therefore supports the substance of the proposal.
17.5 But the Minister also says
that:
· the
Commission published the proposal on 9 January, it was circulated
by the Council Secretariat on 10 January and it went to Coreper
on 22 January, before being tabled at the Council for final Ministerial
approval after the European Parliament plenary session of 3-6
February;
· the
Government has a number of concerns around the timing of introducing
this proposal and of the chosen procedure for reaching agreement;
· Member
States were only given one day to respond to the "silent
procedure" (requiring Member States to confirm they had no
objection or had very serious policy concerns or objected to the
matter being dealt urgently by Coreper without discussion), giving
insufficient time for Parliament to scrutinise the proposal;
· additionally,
non-eurozone Member States should have been informed of the implementation
issues much earlier; and
· the
Government will make a statement at the time of adoption of the
proposal making its dissatisfaction at the handling of this process
known — nevertheless, in policy terms, it has no reason
to object to the proposal.
Conclusion
17.6 We recognise the utility
of this draft Regulation and clear the document from scrutiny.
17.7 However, we share the Government's
concern about the processing of the proposal and ask the Minister
to add our dissatisfaction to the Government statement when the
proposal is adopted by the Council.
| 
