Judgment_paragraph 3 · Verein für Konsumenteninformation v Deutsche Bahn AG (C-28/18)

3Recitals 1, 6, 9, 10 and 32 of Regulation No 260/2012 are worded as follows:(1) The creation of an integrated market for electronic payments in euro, with no distinction between national and cross-border payments is necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market. To that end, the single euro payments area (SEPA) project aims to develop common Union-wide payment services to replace current national payment services. As a result of the introduction of open, common payment standards, rules and practices, and through integrated payment processing, SEPA should provide Union citizens and businesses with secure, competitively priced, user-friendly, and reliable payment services in euro. This should apply to SEPA payments within and across national boundaries under the same basic conditions and in accordance with the same rights and obligations, regardless of location within the Union. ……(6) Only rapid and comprehensive migration to Union-wide credit transfers and direct debits will generate the full benefits of an integrated payments market, so that the high costs of running both “legacy” and SEPA products in parallel can be eliminated. Rules should therefore be laid down to cover the execution of all credit transfer and direct debit transactions denominated in euro within the Union. ……(9) For a credit transfer to be executed, the payee’s payment account must be reachable. Therefore, in order to encourage the successful take-up of Union-wide credit transfer and direct debit services, a reachability obligation should be established across the Union. To improve transparency, it is furthermore appropriate to consolidate that obligation and the reachability obligation for direct debits already established under Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 [of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on cross-border payments in the Community and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 (OJ 2009 L 266, p. 11)] in a single act. All payee payment accounts reachable for a national credit transfer should also be reachable via a Union-wide credit transfer scheme. All payers’ payment accounts reachable for a national direct debit should also be reachable via a Union-wide direct debit scheme. This should apply whether or not a [payment service provider (PSP)] decides to participate in a particular credit transfer or direct debit scheme.(10) Technical interoperability is a prerequisite for competition. In order to create an integrated market for electronic payments systems in euro, it is essential that the processing of credit transfers and direct debits is not hindered by business rules or technical obstacles such as compulsory adherence to more than one system for settling cross-border payments. Credit transfers and direct debits should be carried out under a scheme, the basic rules of which are adhered to by PSPs representing a majority of PSPs within a majority of the Member States and constituting a majority of PSPs within the Union, and which are the same both for cross-border and for purely national credit transfer and direct debit transactions. ……(32) In order to ensure broad public support for SEPA, a high level of protection for payers is essential, particularly for direct debit transactions. The current and only pan-European direct debit scheme for consumers developed by the [European Payments Council (EPC)] provides for a “no-questions-asked”, unconditional refund right for authorised payments during a period of 8 weeks from the date on which the funds were debited, while that refund right is subject to several conditions under Articles 62 and 63 of Directive 2007/64/EC [of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market amending Directives 97/7/EC, 2002/65/EC, 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 97/5/EC (OJ 2007 L 319, p. 1)]. In the light of the prevailing market situation and of the necessity to ensure a high level of consumer protection, the impact of those provisions should be assessed in the report that, in accordance with Article 87 of Directive 2007/64/EC, the Commission shall, no later than 1 November 2012, present to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the [European Central Bank] accompanied, where appropriate, by a proposal for its revision.’