e-SEPA

E-SEPA is the next step of the SEPA project aimed at achieving full automation of the payment value chain.

What are the non-paper based payment instruments?
The non-paper based payment instruments include every payment initiated by means of an electronic device, i.e. not using a paper document, where the respective execution does not require an involvement of the credit institution's employee, e.g. the majority of payments made via internet; pre-authorised direct debit payments; automatic payments via telephone; card payments executed by using CHIP and PIN authorisation technology.

E-SEPA is an electronic or enhanced SEPA that will not only standardise and ensure fully automated settlement principles within the banking systems, but will also provide an opportunity to initiate payments electronically and to finalise them electronically in the customers' accounting systems.

The SEPA supports the value added services, offered before and after the SEPA credit transfer – e-invoicing and e-reconciliation. In addition, SEPA will help to enhance e-government and e-procurement, thus promoting efficient public services.

The elaborated e-mandate, that is already included in the SEPA direct scheme rulebooks, has facilitated an automatic processing of the SEPA direct debit payments.

The European Payments Council continues to elaborate the value added services, which are actual for a daily user, i.e. SEPA internet payment and SEPA mobile payment.

Electronic invoicing e-invoicing

This is a service offered to customers before payment, whereby bills are sent straight to the payer's internet banking application and, after the payer accepts the bill, an automatic payment instruction is created containing the relevant information on the payer and payee.*

The European Commission has set up an expert group on e-invoicing with the task to establish a European electronic invoicing framework. The mid-term progress report of the expert group has been published on 27 January 2009.

The initiative of the European Commission in relation to the e-invoicing
The term electronic invoice or e-invoice is a generic term for dematerialised invoice (invoice that is not created in material, physical form). The invoice is a document or a data set marked with the word "invoice" formally specifying details of a (or part of a) trade and all settlement related information for the (or part of the) trade, explicitly and separately stating the applicable tax. The European Commission particularly emphasize economic benefits, which will incur from substituting a paper invoice with an e-invoice or entirely new SEPA core products. The forecast for the total economic benefit of Europe is counted up to 362 billion euro for the period 2007-2012. To promote wide usage of e-invoicing, the e-invoicing ecosystem has to be created to the utmost open, giving the possibility to the large number of the stakeholders to operate in both the market demand side, and the market supply side, at the same time ensuring interoperability in both the system, and the process level. Wherewith, the expectations have been made, that the e-invoicing services will be offered not only by financial institutions, but also by specialized service providers.
Considering those requirements, the expectations have been made, that the e-invoicing infrastructure will be decentralised, giving the possibility to coexist the different business models – from bilateral e-invoice exchangeable message model to complex four-corner network models (2 receivers, each represented by different service provider).
The European Commission's Expert Group on e-invoicing is currently working towards consolidation of SEPA standards that would allow ensuring interoperability of e-invoice with other e-SEPA products. In the long-term, the movement towards a single dominating syntax level standard is ongoing. The Expert Group invites to use UN/CEFACT and ISO as two global offerings of global standardisation organizations. Upon resolving the issues of e-standard, the Expert Group foresees relevant options to use them also for the delivery of the other services, including e-SEPA and e-governance services.

Electronic reconciliation e-reconciliation

It is a service, which is offered to customers after payment. In this case bills are electronically matched with the payment, and the payee's records are automatically updated.*

E-mandate service e-mandate

The Mandate is the expression of consent and authorisation given by the debtor to the creditor to allow the creditor to initiate collections for debiting the specified debtor's account and to allow the debtor bank to comply with such instructions in accordance with the
SEPA direct debit scheme rulebook (please see the Annex VII – E-Mandates).

The e-mandate is an electronic mandate, created through the use of electronic channels and signed in a secure electronic manner.

The e-mandate service is value added service of SEPA direct debit scheme. This service gives an opportunity for creditor and debtor to issue the mandate in electronic way.

SEPA internet payment

SEPA internet payment is a value added service of SEPA payments, aimed to promote the e-commerce. The SEPA internet payment is aimed to be a single set of procedures for initiation if payments on the internet. Currently under development at the European Payments Council.

SEPA mobile payment

The SEPA mobile payment is a value added service of SEPA payments. Similar to the SEPA internet payment, the SEPA mobile payment is to be designed as single set of procedures in the initiation of payments, as well as in the other domains of payment value-chain, including using contactless technologies. Currently under development at the European Payments Council.

* Information brochure "The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA): an integrated retail payments market", European Central Bank, 2009.

Last updated: 21.01.2010. 17:48