Press Release: Charlie McCreevy, Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, welcomes progress made in ECOFIN Council on Payment Services Directive

On 27 March 2007, finance ministers in the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) unanimously adopted a general approach on a compromise text for the Payment Services Directive (PSD). The aim of the PSD is to make cross-border payments within the EU – by credit card, debit card, electronic bank transfer, direct debit or any other means – as easy, cheap and secure as domestic payments within one Member State, and to provide the necessary legal foundation to make the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) possible. It will greatly reinforce the rights and protection of all the users of payment services (consumers, retailers, SMEs, etc). The compromise text for the PSD will now be considered by the European Parliament.

European Central Bank: Press Release, 24.4.07: Payment Services Directive http://www.ecb.int/press/pr/date/2007/html/pr070424.en.html

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