Standards and technical requirements

Common technical standards are needed for processing SEPA payments. They are necessary to allow interaction and interoperability between IT systems and to ensure an automated processing of euro-denominated transactions between payment service providers (PSPs). This is referred to as “straight-through processing”, which means that no manual intervention is needed.

EU-wide requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro (Regulation No 260/2012)

Regulation No 260/2012 requires the use of certain common standards and technical requirements, such as the use of International Bank Account Numbers (IBAN), Business Identifier Codes (BIC)and the financial services messaging standard ISO 20022 XML for all credit transfers and direct debits in euro in the EU.

Technical requirements for SEPA credit transfers and direct debits for the payments industry

• The payment account identifier must be the IBAN.
• The standard for message format must be the ISO 20022 XML standard.
• The remittance data field must allow for 140 characters. Payment schemes may allow for a higher number of characters, except if the device used to remit information has technical limitations relating to the number of characters, in which case the technical limit of the device applies.
• Remittance reference information and all the other data elements provided must be passed in full and without alteration between PSPs in the payment chain.
• Once the required data is available in electronic form, payment transactions must allow for fully automated, electronic processing at all stages of the payment chain (end-to-end straight-through processing).
• Payment schemes must set no minimum threshold for the amount of the payment transaction in respect of credit transfers and direct debits but are not required to process payment transactions with zero amount.
• Payment schemes are not obliged to carry out credit transfers and direct debits exceeding the amount of €999 999 999.99.

Data elements for SEPA credit transfer transactions

Data elements that the payer needs to provide to the PSP:

• the payer’s name and/or the IBAN of the payer’s payment account;
• the amount of the credit transfer;
• the IBAN of the payee’s payment account;
• where available, the payee’s name;
• any remittance information.

Data elements that the payer’s PSP needs to provide to the payee’s PSP:

• the payer’s name;
• the IBAN of the payer’s payment account;
• the amount of the credit transfer;
• the IBAN of the payee’s payment account;
• any remittance information;
• any payee identification code;
• the name of any payee reference party;
• any purpose of the credit transfer;
• any category of the purpose of the credit transfer;
• the BIC of the payer’s PSP (if not agreed otherwise by the PSPs involved in the payment transaction);
• the BIC of the payee’s PSP (if not agreed otherwise by the PSPs involved in the payment transaction);
• the identification code of the payment scheme;
• the settlement date of the credit transfer;
• the reference number of the credit transfer message of the payer’s PSP.

Data elements that the payee’s PSP needs to make available to the payee:

• the payer’s name;
• the amount of the credit transfer;
• any remittance information.

Related links

• Payments instruments: SEPA credit transfers

Data elements for SEPA direct debit transactions

Data elements that the payee needs to provide to the payee’s PSP:

• the type of direct debit (recurrent, one-off, first, last or reversal);
• the payee’s name;
• the IBAN of the payee’s payment account to be credited for the collection;
• where available, the payer’s name;
• the IBAN of the payer’s payment account to be debited for the collection;
• the unique mandate reference;
• the amount of the collection (if the payer’s mandate is given after the date on which it was signed);
• the unique mandate reference as given by the original payee who issued the mandate (if the mandate has been taken over by a payee other than the payee who issued the mandate) ;
• the payee’s identifier;
• the identifier of the original payee who issued the mandate (if the mandate has been taken over by a payee other than the payee who issued the mandate);
• any remittance information from the payee to the payer;
• any purpose of the collection;
• any category of the purpose of the collection.

Data elements that the payee’s PSP needs to provide to the payer’s PSP:

• the BIC of the payee’s PSP (if not agreed otherwise by the PSPs involved in the payment transaction);
• the BIC of the payer’s PSP (if not agreed otherwise by the PSPs involved in the payment transaction);
• the payer reference party’s name (if present in the dematerialised mandate);
• the payer reference party’s identification code (if present in the dematerialised mandate);
• the payee reference party’s name (if present in the dematerialised mandate),
• the payee reference party’s identification code (if present in the dematerialised mandate);
• the identification code of the payment scheme;
• the settlement date of the collection;
• the payee’s PSP’s reference for the collection;
• the type of mandate;
• the type of direct debit (recurrent, one-off, first, last or reversal);
• the payee’s name;
• the IBAN of the payee’s payment account to be credited for the collection;
• where available, the payer’s name;
• the IBAN of the payer’s payment account to be debited for the collection;
• the unique mandate reference;
• the date of signature of the mandate if the mandate is given by the payer after 31 March 2012;
• the amount of the collection;
• the unique mandate reference as given by the original payee who issued the mandate (if the mandate has been taken over by a payee other than the payee who issued the mandate);
• the payee’s identifier;
• the identifier of the original payee who issued the mandate (if the mandate has been taken over by a payee other than the payee who issued the mandate);
• any remittance information from the payee to the payer.

Data elements that the payer’s PSP needs to provide to the payer:

• the unique mandate reference;
• the payee’s identifier;
• the payee’s name;
• the amount of the collection;
• any remittance information;
• the identification code of the payment scheme.

Related links

• Payments instruments: SEPA direct debits

SEPA cards standardisation

According to the European Payments Council (EPC), a  Single Euro Payments Area for cards will be achieved to the greatest extent possible through the use of open and free standards, available to all parties along the cards payment value chain. In cooperation with other stakeholders, the EPC is carrying out a card standardisation programme designed to remove any technical obstacles preventing a consistent customer experience throughout the SEPA cards market.

The  SEPA Cards Standardisation Volume - Book of Requirements, developed by the EPC, defines the functional and security requirements, including requirements for the evaluation and certification methodology and architecture, that are recommended by the EPC for adoption throughout the card payment value chain to ensure interoperability within SEPA.

Related links

• Payments instruments: Cards