EC Takes Action Against Romania Over Payment Services

The European Commission has taken action against Romania and four other member states, which will receive letters requesting them to fully implement the Payment Services Directive, the foundation for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

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"Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Poland, Romania and Sweden will receive reasoned opinions requesting them to fully implement the Payment Services Directive (PSD) in their national laws," says a press release published Thursday by the European Commission (EC).

The directive aims to ensure that electronic payments within the EU (credit transfer, direct debit and card payments) become just as easy, efficient, and secure as domestic payments within a single Member State. It also provides the legal foundation to make the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) possible.

The EC has also taken action against Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Luxembourg and Spain, requesting they implement the Remedies Directive, "which aims to improve the national review procedures that businesses can use when they consider that a public authority has awarded a contract unfairly," says the press release.

If a member state does not reply satisfactorily to the EC's letter within two months, the Commission may take the government in question to the Court of Justice.

Mirela Palade, manager of Transfond (the Electronic Payments System operator in Romania), said in October last year that the institution is preparing the banking payments system platform for the move to SEPA standards. The service should become available to banks in late-2010.

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