Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Added(b) in its request, the Member State whose currency is not the euro has undertaken to enter into an agreement with the European Central Bank that includes at least the following commitments:

Added(i) to ensure that its national central bank shall abide by any rules, guidelines, instructions or requests issued by the European Central Bank in relation to the digital euro;

Added(ii) to ensure that its national central bank shall provide all information on the access to and use of the digital euro in that Member State that the European Central Bank may require.

Added(c) the Member State whose currency is not the euro has adopted all the national legislations necessary to ensure respect of the relevant requirements laid down in this Regulation or the rules and standards adopted pursuant to Article 5(2).

Added3. The agreement referred to in paragraph 1 shall specify the necessary implementing measures and procedures, and the cases under which the agreement may be restricted, suspended, or terminated.

Added4. Payment service providers shall implement the limits set by the European Central Bank in accordance with Article 16 on the use of the digital euro by natural and legal persons residing or established in Member States whose currency is not the euro, which are applicable in those Member States.

Added4 a. Where the European Central Bank refuses to enter into the agreement referred to in paragraph 2, it shall provide the Commission with a reasoned explanation of the grounds for such refusal.

AddedArticle 19 Distribution of the digital euro to natural and legal persons residing or established in third countries

Added1. The digital euro may only be distributed to natural and legal persons residing or established in third countries if the Union and the third country concerned have signed a prior agreement to that effect.

Added2. The Council, on a recommendation from the Commission and after having consulted the European Central Bank, shall decide on the arrangements for the negotiation and the conclusion of the agreement referred to in paragraph 1, provided that all of the following conditions have been met:

Added(a) the third country ensures that:

Added(i) its national central bank and, where appropriate, its national competent authority shall abide by any rules, guidelines, instructions or requests issued by the European Central Bank in relation to the digital euro;

Added(ii) its national central bank and, where appropriate, its national competent authority shall provide all information on the use of digital euro in that third country that the European Central Bank may require;

Added(b) the third country has adopted all the national legislations necessary to ensure respect of the rules and standards laid down in this Regulation or adopted pursuant to Article 5(2).

Added(c) the third country ensures that intermediaries established or operating in the third country that distribute the digital euro are subject to supervisory and regulatory requirements, that are at least equivalent to those applied to payment service providers established in the Union, such equivalence being verified by the Commission in the form of an implementing act.

Added3. The agreement between the Union and the third country referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall specify the necessary implementing measures and procedures, and the cases under which the agreement may be restricted, suspended, or terminated, in particular where the third country has been identified as a third country with significant strategic deficiencies in its national anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regime as referred to in Article 29 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 or as a third country with compliance weaknesses in its national anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regime as referred to in Article 30 of that Regulation▌. That agreement shall be complemented by an arrangement between the European Central Bank and the national central bank and, where appropriate, the national competent authority of the third country.

Added4. Negotiations with third countries may be suspended on the basis of the grounds referred to in paragraph 3.

Added5. Intermediaries established or operating in the third country shall implement the limits set by the European Central Bank in accordance with Article 16 on the use of the digital euro by natural and legal persons residing or established in the third country, which are applicable in that country.

AddedArticle 20 Distribution of the digital euro to natural and legal persons residing or established in third countries or territories under a monetary agreement with the Union

Added1. Natural and legal persons residing or established in Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City State, the French overseas collectivities of Saint-Barthélemy, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, or in any other third country or territory under a monetary agreement for the purpose of entitling the concerned third country or territory to use the euro as its official currency in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 and Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98, may be distributed the digital euro, following an amendment of the respective monetary agreements to that effect.

Added2. Subject to further conditions that may be agreed upon between the Union and the third country or territory concerned, the distribution of the digital euro to natural and legal persons residing or established in third countries or territories governed by the monetary agreement referred to in paragraph 1 shall meet the requirements laid down in this Regulation.

Added1. Cross-currency payments between the digital euro and other currencies shall be subject to prior agreements between, on the one hand, the European Central Bank and, on the other hand, the national central banks of the Member States whose currency is not the euro and the third countries.

Added2. The European Central Bank shall cooperate with national central banks of Member States whose currency is not the euro to enable, to the extent possible, interoperable payments between the digital euro and other currencies.

Added1. The digital euro shall:

Added(a) have usage and service features that are accessible, visible, simple and easy to handle, including for persons with disabilities, functional limitations or limited digital skills, and older persons;

Added(b) be accessible for persons with disabilities by complying with the accessibility requirements laid down in Annex I of Directive 2019/882.

Added2. In their relationships with their payment service providers for the provision of digital euro payment services, digital euro users shall not be required to have or open non-digital euro payment accounts or accept other non-digital euro products. The possibility to use digital euro services without any other product or service from that same provider shall be offered in an accessible manner in accordance with paragraph 1.

Added3. Each digital euro payment account shall have a unique digital euro payment account number.

Added4. Each digital euro payment account or may be linked to one or more non-digital euro payment accounts that shall be designated by the digital euro user. For the purpose of Article 13(2a) and (4), each digital euro payment account may only be linked to one non-digital payment account.

Added5. Payment service providers may allow the use of a digital euro payment account by more than one digital euro user.

Added1. The digital euro shall be available for both online and offline digital euro payment transactions as of the first issuance of the digital euro.

Added2. The digital euro, held online or offline, shall be convertible at par, without undue delay, between each other and also as between electronic money and scriptural money.

Added3. The payee and the payer shall be able to identify whether a digital euro payment transaction takes place online or offline.

Added3a. Digital euro users shall be able to choose whether their digital euro payments made in physical proximity are to be offline or online. That choice may be made by the setting of a default mode in the digital euro interface application.

Added3b. An offline digital euro payment transaction shall be executed even if one or both local storage devices have no internet connectivity at the moment of the transaction.

Added1. The design and operation of the settlement infrastructure for the digital euro shall rely on state-of-the-art technologies that:

Added(a) ensure the implementation of privacy-by-design and privacy-by-default principles;

Added(b) ensure the security, continuity and integrity of the settlement infrastructure and its resilience against cyber-threats, while ensuring the readiness of back-up solutions;

Added(c) minimise any dependency on third-country providers.

Added2. For the purpose of this Article, the European Central Bank shall monitor technological developments, including any innovation designed to strengthen privacy, data protection, cyber-security and operational resilience, and the detection and prevention of fraud and money laundering.

AddedThe European Central Bank shall consider implementing new technological developments to the digital euro infrastructure after assessing their purpose, scalability and interoperability with existing infrastructure, as well as their impact on the safety, integrity, efficiency and innovation of the digital euro settlement infrastructure.

Added1. To ensure that payment service providers and digital euro users can use conditional digital euro payment transactions, the European Central Bank, in consultation with the advisory platform for the digital euro scheme rulebook referred to in Article 5(2a), shall:

Added(a) adopt detailed measures, rules and standards in accordance with Article 5(2) that payment service providers can use to ensure interoperable conditional digital euro payment transactions;

Added(b) provide the functionalities in the digital euro settlement infrastructure necessary for the execution of conditional digital euro payment transactions, including for the reservation of funds.

Added2. The digital euro shall not be programmable money.

Added1. In the event of a severe or imminent disruption affecting the continuity of digital euro payment services, the Commission may, upon the request of a Member State and after consultation of the European Central Bank, adopt temporary and proportionate exceptional measures to safeguard uninterrupted access for users.

Added2. The exceptional measures referred to in paragraph 1 may include:

Added(a) the temporary increase of limits for online and offline transactions or holdings;

Added(b) the activation of emergency switching, enabling users to access digital euro services and holdings without interruption through an alternative payment service provider where their designated provider is unable to ensure continuity, while enabling the alternative service provider to complete the switching without relying on the other payment service providers;

Added(c) the temporary reinforcement of the distribution of the digital euro where necessary to maintain accessibility.

Added3. Requests for exceptional measures referred to in paragraph 1 shall include evidence of the disruption and its impact. The Commission shall assess any request for exceptional measures and adopt a decision within 48 hours of submission of the request.

Added4. The exceptional measures adopted under this Article:

Added(a) shall be strictly limited in scope and duration;

Added(b) shall not exceed a period of three months; and

Added(c) may be renewed only where the conditions justifying their adoption persist.

AddedThe exceptional measures shall comply with the principles of necessity, proportionality, financial stability, and the applicable requirements on data protection and cybersecurity, anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Added1. The digital euro settlement infrastructure shall consist of physically separate processing sites, which all together form a resilient digital euro payment system.

Added2. The level of resilience of the digital euro settlement infrastructure shall not be inferior to the level of the digital operational resilience requirements set out in Regulation (EU) 2022/2554.

Added3. The European Central Bank shall establish software and hardware requirements, including an appropriate certification process, to ensure the security and integrity of offline digital euro transactions and holdings as well as their resilience against fraud, counterfeiting, double spending, or data breaches,.

Added4. Payment service providers shall ensure that devices supporting the offline functionality comply with the technical standards established by the ECB.