The European Payments Council (EPC) has
abandoned further developments of the draft SEPA e-Payment
Framework, together with any related standardisation
initiative.
The EPC said the decision reflected the need
to launch a wider debate with all stakeholders on how to create a
secure SEPA online payment environment.
The announcement follows an investigation
initiated by the European Commission in September 2011 that
considered whether the standardisation of online payments could
alienate new entrants or service providers from the e-payments
market.
As a result of the investigation, the EPC
suspended all activities related to the draft SEPA e-Payment
Framework, including the plan to launch a public consultation on
it.
The EPC said following further analysis of
applicable legal regimes, it concluded that there are significant
challenges to any initiative to develop an interoperability
framework for secure SEPA-wide online payment solutions in a way
that meets the interests of all stakeholders.
The draft framework aimed to support SEPA-wide
interoperability between existing and new e-payment schemes that
rely on SEPA credit transfers, in the light of harmonisation and
security concerns among European Union authorities and e-merchants
for the banking industry.
