Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

RemovedRecital 17: (17) The digital euro should have legal tender status for payments of a monetary debt denominated in euro to a payee residing or established in the euro area.

Added(8) It is therefore necessary to lay down a legal framework for establishing a digital form of the euro with the status of legal tender, for retail use ▌. As the digital euro is a new form of the euro available to the general public, ▌it is ▌necessary to establish it and to regulate its main characteristics, as a measure of monetary law. The European Central Bank is competent to issue and to authorise the issuance of the digital euro by national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro, exercising its powers under the Treaties. On the basis of those powers and in accordance with the legal framework set out in this Regulation, the European Central Bank should thus be able to decide whether to issue the digital euro, at which times and in what amounts, and other particular measures that are intrinsically connected to its issuance, in addition to banknotes and coins.

RemovedRecital 18: (18) Since the digital euro requires the capacity to accept digital means of payment, imposing an obligation of mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro on all payees could be disproportionate. To this end, exceptions to the mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro should be provided for natural persons acting as self-employed persons in a commercial activity or in the course of a purely personal or household activity. Exceptions to mandatory acceptance should also be provided for small enterprises, which are particularly important in the euro area for the development of entrepreneurship job creation and innovation, playing a vital role in shaping the economy. Union policies and actions should reduce regulatory burdens for enterprises of that size. Exceptions to mandatory acceptance should also be provided for non-profit legal entities which promote the public interest and serve the public good performing a variety of goals of societal interest, including equity, education, health, environmental protection and human rights. For small enterprises and non-profit legal entities, the acquisition of the required infrastructure and the acceptance costs would be disproportionate. They should therefore be exempted from the obligation to accept payments in digital euro. In such cases, other means for the settlement of monetary debts should remain available. Finally, a payee may also refuse a payment in digital euro if the refusal is made in good faith and if the payee …

Added(8a) To ensure the integrity and independence of the Union’s institutional framework, it is necessary for the European Central Bank to maintain a clear separation between, on the one hand, its activities related to the management of the digital euro and, on the other, its monetary policy, supervisory and payment systems oversight tasks under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). Establishing robust safeguards against potential conflicts of interest is essential to preserve the impartiality of decisionmaking and uphold public confidence in the digital euro.

RemovedRecital 21: (21) The main objective of the establishment of the digital euro is its use as a form of the single currency with legal tender in the euro area. For this purpose and in line with the Agreement on the European Economic Area, digital euro users residing or established in the euro area, including consumers with no fixed address, asylum seekers and consumers who are not granted a residence permit but whose expulsion is impossible for legal or factual reasons, may be provided with digital euro payment services by PSPs established in the European Economic Area. Natural and legal persons who were already receiving digital euro payment services, because they opened a digital euro payment account or have an offline digital euro device at the time they resided or were established in a Member State whose currency is the euro, but no longer reside or are established in such Member State, may still receive digital euro payment services by payment service providers established in the European Economic Area, in line with the Agreement on the European Economic Area, subject to possible limited access and use of the online digital euro that the European Central Bank may define.

Added(8b) To ensure transparency, predictability and adequate preparation by all stakeholders, the European Central Bank should publicly announce the envisaged date of the first issuance of the digital euro once it has authorised its issuance.

RemovedRecital 22: (22) In accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and the Council, the notion of ‘funds’ means banknotes and coins, scriptural money or electronic money. As a new form of central bank money with legal tender, the digital euro should be considered as funds under Directive (EU) 2015/2366. It should be ensured that payment service providers distributing the digital euro should be subject to the requirements laid down in this Directive as transposed by Member States and supervised for this purpose by the competent authorities referred to in this Directive as well. When issuing the digital euro, the European Central Bank and national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro, as part of the Eurosystem, would be acting in their capacity as monetary authority and should therefore not subject to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 in accordance with Article 1(e) of that Directive, except when resolving transaction-related disputes among payment service providers.

Added(8c) In view of the technical and organisational complexity of preparing for the digital euro, the European Central Bank should undertake all necessary preparatory work ahead of that issuance. Such preparatory work includes finalising the digital euro scheme rulebook, developing and deploying the required infrastructure, establishing appropriate governance provisions, conducting pilot testing and defining clear liability rules.

RemovedRecital 23: (23) Digital euro payment accounts are a category of payment accounts denominated in euro through which online digital euro users are able to carry out inter alia the following transactions: place funds, withdraw cash and execute and receive online digital euro payment transactions to and from third parties, irrespective of the technology used and the structure of the ledger or of the data (e.g. whether digital euros are recorded as holding balances or units of value). Where these activities require processing of personal data, the payment service providers should be controllers.

Added(8d) Following the authorisation of the issuance of the digital euro, the European Central Bank should provide for a rollout phase of at least 24 months to allow the Eurosystem, payment service providers and digital euro users to reach the necessary level of readiness for a secure, resilient and gradual adaptation. A rollout phase involves a progressive and controlled introduction of the new instrument, during which technical systems are scaled up, operational processes are tested in realworld conditions, and users and intermediaries are supported in transitioning to the new environment. Any possible postponement of the date of the first issuance of the digital euro by the European Central Bank should not necessarily be reflected in the duration of the roll-out period.

RemovedRecital 24: (24) Account servicing payment service providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 should provide funding and defunding services to their clients, regardless of their ability to provide the liquidity source for those funds in central bank money. At the request of their clients, in view of successfully carrying out funding and defunding services, account servicing to payment service providers that are allowed to have an account at the central bank should provide account servicing payment service providers that are not allowed to have an account at the central bank with access to payment systems, and similarly should pass through the settlement infrastructure the transfer orders of the account servicing payment service providers that are not allowed to have an account at the central bank, in an objective, proportionate and non-discriminatory manner.

Added(8e) In addition, before the first issuance of the digital euro, the European Central Bank should carry out pilot testing in a controlled reallife environment for an adequate period of time in order to verify the digital euro’s technical reliability, security features and usability. The pilot testing should cover both online and offline digital euro functionalities, with particular attention to offlinespecific cyber risks such as doublespending prevention, device integrity, and the resilience of secure elements. It should involve a voluntary and representative selection of payment service providers, merchants and end users established or residing in Member States whose currency is the euro, reflecting diverse technological environments, network conditions, device types and user profiles. The pilot testing should be able to include end users from vulnerable groups such as elderly persons, persons with limited digital skills, and persons with disabilities, so as to confirm that the digital euro is accessible and usable for all population groups, including those who are digitally excluded or rely heavily on cash. After completion of the pilot testing, the European Central Bank should publish a report summarising the results and any identified shortcomings and corrective measures taken, including in relation to cybersecurity, operational resilience and privacy protection, and transmit it to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.

Change 2

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Change 3

RemovedRecital 26: (26) To support universal access to the online digital euro by the general public in the euro area, and to foster innovation and a high level of competition in the retail payment market, all the relevant intermediaries should be able to distribute the online digital euro. All account servicing payment service providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366, including credit institutions, electronic money institutions, payment institutions, post office giro institutions which are entitled under national law to provide payment services, the European Central Bank and national central banks of Member States whose currency is the euro, as part of the Eurosystem, when not acting in their capacity as monetary authority or other public authorities, and Member States or their regional or local authorities when not acting in their capacity as public authorities should be able to provide online digital euro payment accounts and the related online digital euro payment services, regardless of their location in the European Economic Area. Crypto asset services providers regulated under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council29 that are account servicing payment service providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 should also be allowed to distribute the digital euro. In accordance with Directive (EU) 2015/2366, account servicing payment service providers should be obliged to provide access to data on payment accounts to payment initiation and account information servic…

Added(10) The digital euro should be governed by the provisions of this Regulation. They may be supplemented by the delegated acts that the Commission is empowered to adopt pursuant to Articles 14, 16a, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 38, and by the implementing acts pursuant to Articles 17, 17a, 19, 33 that the Commission is empowered to adopt pursuant to Article 39. In addition, within the framework of this Regulation and its delegated acts, the European Central Bank may adopt detailed measures, rules and standards pursuant to its own competences. Where such measures, rules and standards have an impact on the protection of individual’s rights and freedoms with regard to the processing of personal data, the European Central Bank should consult the European Data Protection Supervisor. Such detailed measures, rules and standards should fully implement the principles of data minimisation, and of data protection by design and by default, as defined in Regulation (EU) 2016/679, and shall implement privacy-enhancing technologies. To ensure legal certainty, the Regulation also clarifies that the digital euro is subject to Directive (EU) 2024/1640 of the European Parliament and of the Council,▌and to Regulation (EU) 2023/1113 of the European Parliament and of the Council, ▌without prejudice to the adjusted anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing framework laid down in this regulation for offline digital euro payment transactions. Digital euro payment transactions and the related payment services are also subject to Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council, ▌which has provided that ‘funds’ include central bank money issued for retail use (i.e. banknotes, coins and central bank digital currencies), and to Regulation (EU) 2021/1230 of the European Parliament and of the Council. In addition, payment service providers providing digital euro payment services are subject to Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 of the European Parliament and of the Council.

RemovedRecital 27: (27) In case the availability of the digital euro were contingent upon free business decisions by all payment service providers, the digital euro could be marginalised or even excluded by the payment service providers. That could prevent users from paying and receiving payments in a form of currency endowed with the status of legal tender. In that case, the singleness in the use of the digital euro throughout the euro area required by Article 133 TFEU, would not be guaranteed. It is therefore essential that designated payment service providers be required to distribute basic digital euro services.

Added(10a) To support the consistent and effective implementation of the digital euro, the European Central Bank should establish an advisory platform dedicated to the digital euro scheme rulebook. That platform should contribute on an ongoing basis to matters such as interoperability between payment service providers, the functioning of the digital euro settlement infrastructure, usability considerations and the development of technical standards for digital euro payment services. Its composition should include participants from the market for payment services, merchants, and representatives of end users and consumer organisations, and should operate with full transparency regarding its membership and working methods. The European Central Bank should also ensure public transparency of the discussions held within the advisory platform.

RemovedRecital 28: (28) A requirement to distribute the digital euro should be proportionate to the objective of ensuring an effective use of the digital euro as a legal tender means of payment. Restricting that obligation to credit institutions that are already active in retail business services would ensure the effectiveness of legal tender status, while avoiding putting a disproportionate burden on payment service providers with specialised, non-consumer oriented business models. The obligation to distribute the digital euro is therefore limited to credit institutions providing payment account services at the request of their clients. This is without prejudice to the application of Chapter IV of the Payment Account Directive on access to payment account with basic features to the access to online digital euro account with basic features to consumers which are not client of a credit institution.

Added(11) To ensure the effective protection of the legal tender status of the digital euro as a single currency throughout the euro area, and the acceptance of payments in digital euro, rules on sanctions for infringements should be introduced and applied in the Member States.

Change 4

ChangedRecital(12) 29:The (29)relevant Toprovisions ensureof aDirective wide(EU) usage2015/2366 ▌, Directive (EU) 2024/1640 and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the digitalEuropean euro,Parliament includingand forof personsthe withCouncil disabilities,should functionalgovern limitationsthe orsupervision limitedby digitalcompetent skills,authorities and elderly persons,the itsanctions isregime essentialand thatsupervisory publicarrangements entities,between includingthe localcompetent orauthorities regionalof authorities,the orhome postalMember offices,States provideand basicof digitalthe paymenthost servicesMember andStates, digitalconcerning inclusionthe support.activities Forof thatPayment purpose,Services MemberProviders Statesestablished shouldin designateMember entitiesStates thatwhose shouldcurrency carryis outnot thatthe taskeuro. withinTo theirensure territory.an Suchefficient entities,supervision asof payment services providers distributing the digital euro, the competent authorities responsible under Directive (EU) 2015/2366,2015/2366 for supervising the provision of payment services should complyalso cooperate with the provisionsEuropean Central Bank for the purposes of supervising the application of payment-related obligations laid down in this Regulation,Regulation▌. includingAny Directivepersonal data processing under this Regulation must comply with Regulation (EU) 2015/23662016/679 and DirectiveRegulation (EU) 2015/849.2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council insofar as they fall within their respective scope of application. Therefore, the supervisory authorities under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 are responsible for the supervision of processing of personal data carried out in the context of this Regulation.

Change 5

RemovedRecital 31: (31) Pursuant to its powers under the Treaties and in line with the provisions of this Regulation, the Commission should be able to set limits on the use of the digital euro as a store of value. The effective use of the digital euro as a legal tender means of payment should be preserved through limits on inter-PSP or merchant fees.

Added(13) Member States, their relevant authorities and payment service providers should take adequate measures among citizens and merchants to ensure the necessary level of awareness and knowledge about the possibilities of access to the digital euro, its use, and its impact on resilience, inclusiveness, and accessibility. Those awarenessraising activities should be carried out in close coordination with all relevant stakeholders, including the European Central Bank, the national central banks and the relevant market participants, so as to ensure coherent, accurate and widely accessible communication across the Union.

RemovedRecital 32: (32) An unrestricted use of digital euro as a store of value could endanger financial stability in the euro area, with adverse effects on credit provision to the economy by credit institutions. This may require that the Commission, with a view to ensuring the stability of the financial system, and in line with the principle of proportionality, introduce limits on the digital euro’s use as a store of value. The policy tools that could be used for this purpose include, but would not be restricted to, quantitative limits to individual digital euro holdings and limits to conversion of other categories of funds to digital euro in a specified timeframe. When deciding on those tools, the Commission should respect the principle of an open market economy with free competition, in accordance with Article 127(1) TFEU.

Added(14) According to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union , the concept of ‘legal tender’ of a means of payment denominated in a currency unit signifies, in its ordinary sense, that that means of payment cannot generally be refused in settlement of a debt denominated in the same currency unit, at its full-face value, with the effect of discharging the debt.

RemovedRecital 32 a (new): (32a) In order to safeguard financial stability and prevent structural disintermediation risks in the banking sector in the euro area, the holdings of digital euro by natural persons should be subject to quantitative limits. Those limits should ensure that the introduction of the digital euro does not trigger significant outflows of retail deposits or undermine the capacity of credit institutions to provide credit to the economy. To that end, prior to setting the limits by the Commission, the European Central Bank should assess, in close cooperation with the European Systemic Risk Board, the impact of different theoretical holding limits on funding, liquidity and profitability of credit institutions, including at national and institution-specific levels. The assessment should be based on a full-take-up scenario and reflect residual financial stability risks, taking into account periods of extraordinary liquidity and excess reserves that may distort the results. On the basis of that assessment, the Commission should define its risk tolerance to residual financial instability and set initial holding limits by means of a delegated act, ensuring that no credit institution faces an excessive retail deposit outflow and that liquidity coverage ratios remain sound across the euro area and its Member States. Any downward adjustment of those limits should be established by means of delegated acts and any upward revision should be made by means of a legislative proposal, thus preserving…

Added(15) Legal tender status is a defining characteristic of central bank money. In the euro area, until now euro banknotes and coins are the only means of payment that have the status of legal tender, pursuant to Article 128(1) of the ▌TFEU) and Articles 10 and 11 of Council Regulation (EC) No 974/98 ▌.

RemovedRecital 34: (34) Digital euro users should have the choice to use the digital euro either on its online or offline forms, or eventually both, subject to the limits set respectively by the Commission. The payment service providers should register and de-register the offline digital euro device for offline digital euro payment transactions of their customers. The payment service providers should only store the identifier of the offline digital euro device used for offline digital euro for the duration of facilitating the provision of offline digital euro to their customers. The payment service providers should implement appropriate technical and organisational measures including state-of-the-art security and privacy-preserving measures to ensure that the identifier of the offline digital euro device of individual digital euro users cannot be used for other purposes other than for the purpose of the provision of offline digital euro.

Added(16) The digital euro, as a digital currency with the status of legal tender denominated in euro issued by the European Central Bank and national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro, as part of the Eurosystem, should be widely accessible, usable and accepted as a means of payment. Granting legal tender status to the digital euro should support its usability in payments across the euro area and thus also support the efforts to ensure the continued availability and accessibility of central bank money ▌, as cash alone cannot address the needs of a rapidly digitalising economy. In addition, the mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro as one of the main conditions of the legal tender status ensures that people and businesses benefit from a wide acceptance and have a real choice to pay with central bank money in a digital way and in a uniform manner throughout the euro area.

RemovedRecital 35: (35) The payment service providers should register and re-register the offline digital euro device for offline digital euro payment transactions of their customers. The payment service providers should only store the identifier of the offline digital euro device used for offline digital euro for the duration of facilitating the provision of offline digital euro to their customers. The payment service providers should implement appropriate technical and organisational measures including state-of-the-art security and privacy-preserving measures to ensure that the identifier of the offline digital euro device of individual digital euro users cannot be compared with the information about the digital euro user in order to identify the data subject, except for the purpose of Article 37.

Added(17) The digital euro should have legal tender status for payments of a monetary debt denominated in euro to ▌a payee residing or established in the euro area, where the payer is also residing or established in the euro area. ▌In cases where the payee is required to accept both online and offline digital euro payment transactions, the payer should remain free to choose whether to pay with the online or offline digital euro payment functionality. That upholds the principle of legal tender, ensuring that the digital euro is accepted for both online and offline digital euro payment transactions, while respecting the freedom of choice of the payer.

RemovedRecital 36: (36) The digital euro should allow for a smooth payment experience. Any instruments that the Commission might employ to limit the digital euro’s store of value function should take this objective into account. Automated mechanisms that link a digital euro payment account with a non-digital euro payment account should allow for an uninhibited payment functionality of online the digital euro, by ensuring that transactions are successfully executed in the presence of individual digital euro holding limits that may become binding on the payer’s or payee’s side. In particular, an online digital euro users should be able to initiate a digital euro payment transaction even though the amount of their digital euro holdings is inferior to the amount of the transaction, by automatically mobilising funds from a non-digital euro payment account to complement the transaction amount (‘reverse waterfall functionality’). Conversely, online digital euro users should be able to receive digital euro payment transactions even though the amount of the transaction exceeds the limit set on their digital euro holdings, by automatically transferring funds in excess of the limit to a non-digital euro payment account (‘waterfall functionality’). Such payment functionalities should be expressly authorized by online digital euro users. However, in order not to create disproportional burdens on payment service providers, online digital users should be allowed to automatically fund or defund their online di…

Added(18) Since the digital euro requires the capacity to accept digital means of payment, imposing an obligation of mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro on all payees could be disproportionate. To this end, exceptions to the mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro should be provided for natural persons acting as self-employed persons in a commercial activity or in the course of a purely personal or household activity. Exceptions to mandatory acceptance should also be provided for small and micro enterprises, which are particularly important in the euro area for the development of entrepreneurship job creation and innovation, playing a vital role in shaping the economy. Union policies and actions should reduce regulatory burdens for enterprises of that size. Exceptions to mandatory acceptance should also be provided for non-profit legal entities which promote the public interest and serve the public good performing a variety of goals of societal interest, including equity, education, health, environmental protection and human rights. For small and microenterprises and non-profit legal entities, the acquisition of the required infrastructure and the acceptance costs could be disproportionate. They should therefore be exempted from the obligation to accept payments in digital euro. In such cases, other means for the settlement of monetary debts should remain available. Nevertheless, small and microenterprises and non-profit legal entities that accept other digital means of payment from payers should be subject to the mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro. Other digital means of payment should include debit card payment or instant payment or other future technological solutions used at the point of interaction, but should exclude credit transfer and direct debit that are not initiated at the point of interaction. Small and micro enterprises and non-profit legal entities that do not accept other digital means of payment from their payers in settlement of a debt (e.g. they only accept euro banknotes and coins) ▌ should not be subject to the mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro. ▌A payee may also refuse a payment in digital euro if the refusal is made in good faith and if the payee justifies the refusal on legitimate and temporary grounds, proportionate to concrete circumstances beyond its control, leading to an impossibility to accept payments in digital euro at the relevant time of the transaction, such as a power outage in the case of online digital euro payment transactions, or a defective device in the case of offline or online digital euro payment transactions. Finally, a payee should be able to refuse a payment in digital euro when the payment is to be done at an unmanned point of sale that does not support any other digital means of payment.

RemovedRecital 37: (37) While instruments employed by the Commission to limit an excessive use of the digital euro as a store of value aim at safeguarding financial stability and financial intermediation, they may nonetheless impact on and interact with the European Central Bank’s monetary policy stance. Such instruments would therefore need to be applied uniformly across the euro area in order to ensure the use of the digital euro as a single currency and the singleness of the monetary policy. Furthermore, a uniform application would be necessary to ensure a level playing field for payment service providers in the European single market or avoid an overly complex enforcement of any instrument through payment service providers on the basis of digital euro users’ residency. Within the framework of this Regulation, the digital euro should not bear interest for the purposes of primarily using the digital euro as a means of payment while limiting its use as a store of value.

Added▌

RemovedRecital 39: (39) Any limits to the store of value function that the Commission decided on should be binding on and implemented by the payment service providers distributing the digital euro. To avoid any potential risk to financial stability, digital euro holdings should be limited and maintained to the threshold which allows the use of the digital euro as a digital form of cash, in accordance with the principle of proportionality. For such purposes, legal persons should not maintain any holding limits, considering in particular the possibility of automatic defund from their offline digital euro devices to non-digital euro payment accounts, except in in the event of temporary network disruptions due to force majeure events in which they might be able to maintain holding without limits. As for natural persons, a delegated act, substantiated on technical grounds by a European Central Bank and Commission reports, will set the initial holding limits. While an online digital euro user may have one or more digital euro payment accounts at the same payment service provider or at different payment service providers, they should be subject to an individual holding limit that a digital euro user may allocate across different payment services providers. Payment service providers may offer online digital euro users the possibility to legally have a joint digital euro payment account. In this case, any holding limit applied to the joint digital euro payment account should be equal to the sum of the a…

Added(20) In order to ensure that people and businesses benefit from a wide acceptance network and are able to effectively use the digital euro in their day-to-day payments, payees who are subject to the mandatory acceptance of payments in digital euro should not unilaterally exclude payments in digital euro through contractual terms that have not been individually negotiated, where the payer is a consumer or a self-employed person engaged in a commercial activity. Such payees should also refrain from engaging in commercial practices that have the object or effect of excluding the use of the digital euro by payers of monetary debts denominated in euro.

RemovedRecital 41 a (new): (41a) Payment service providers will have to make significant investments to integrate with the European Central Bank’s back-end for the provision of the online digital euro, which should be adequately compensated. The provision of the offline digital euro will involve lower investment costs for payment service providers, as no connection to the European Central Bank’s back-end is needed due to the absence of a central digital euro settlement infrastructure.

Added(21) The main objective of the establishment of the digital euro is its use as a form of the single currency with legal tender in the euro area. For this purpose and in line with the Agreement on the European Economic Area, digital euro users residing or established in the euro area, including individuals belonging to vulnerable groups, such as individuals with no fixed address, asylum seekers, beneficiaries of international protection, or consumers who are not granted a residence permit but whose expulsion is impossible for legal or factual reasons, may be provided with digital euro payment services by PSPs established in the European Economic Area. Natural or legal persons residing or established in Member States whose currency is not the euro, or in third countries, should also be allowed to receive digital euro payment services while they exercise their rights of free movement in a Member State whose currency is the euro. That would cover, among others, citizens who have a right to work, study or provide goods and services in a Member State whose currency is the euro even though they do not reside there. Furthermore, natural and legal persons who were already receiving digital euro payment services, because they opened a digital euro payment account at the time they resided or were established in a Member State whose currency is the euro, but no longer reside or are established in such Member State, may still receive digital euro payment services by payment service providers established in the European Economic Area, in line with the Agreement on the European Economic Area ▌. Finally, visitors to the euro area should also be allowed to receive digital euro payment services. The European Central Bank should be able to define and impose restrictions on the access and use in time of the digital euro for visitors to the euro area and natural and legal persons who no longer reside nor are established in Member States whose currency is the euro.

Change 6

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Change 7

RemovedRecital 43: (43) In order to avoid the legal tender obligation leading to higher acceptance costs caps should be based either on relevant cost of the distributing payment service providers for the provision of basic digital euro payment services for the inter-PSP fee and relevant costs of the acquiring payment service providers for the provision of basic acquiring services for the merchant service charge, or on comparable means of payment, with the lower of the two determining the cap for the inter-PSP fee and the merchant service charge after a transitional period. However, a cost-based cap lacks reliable and sufficiently stable data on unit costs during the adoption ramp up period in the first years after the issuance of the digital euro until the level of digital euro transaction stabilises. A transitional period should therefore be provided for. The transitional period should last for at least 10 years to provide enough certainty to all market participants about the adoption by citizens of digital euro services and, thus, unit costs.

Added(23) Digital euro payment accounts are a category of payment accounts denominated in euro through which digital euro users are able to carry out inter alia the following transactions: place funds, withdraw cash and execute and receive payment transactions to and from third parties, irrespective of the technology used and the structure of the ledger or of the data (e.g. whether digital euros are recorded as holding balances or units of value). Where these activities require processing of personal data, the payment service providers should be controllers.

RemovedRecital 44: (44) During the transitional period, fees or charges should not be higher than those requested for comparable private digital means of payment. International card schemes regulated under Regulation (EU) 2015/751 of the European Parliament and the Council30, national card schemes, and instant payments at the point of interaction provided by payment service providers should be considered comparable means of payments.

Added(23a) Payment service providers that provide account servicing payment services within the meaning of [PSD3/PSR] should enable digital euro users who are natural persons to manually or automatically fund or defund their digital euro payment accounts from or to non-digital euro payment accounts at any point in time. In contrast, legal or natural persons acting as self-employed in a commercial activity should be enabled only to automatically defund their digital euro holdings to a non-digital euro payment account at any point in time, in line with the digital euro holding restrictions applicable to them. In addition, natural persons should be able to fund or defund their digital euro payment accounts from or to euro banknotes and coins, whenever the payment service provider provides cash services. When it does so, cash funding and defunding functionalities in respect of digital euro payment accounts should be provided by the payment service provider in the same manner as that provider provides cash in respect of non-digital euro pament accounts, thus ensuring that digital euro funding and defunding operations are subject to the same terms and conditions which each specific provider applies to cash services, including being free of charge where applicable.

RemovedRecital 45: (45) At the level of the individual merchant or payment service providers, no merchant or payment service provider should be charged higher fees compared to acquiring or distributing services for comparable digital means of payment that the payment service provider provides to the payee when receiving basic acquiring services or distributing the digital euro.

Added(23b) With the exception of the funding and defunding resulting from offline digital euro payment transactions, the funding and defunding of local storage devices should always take place through digital euro payment accounts. As such, payment service providers that provide account servicing payment services within the meaning of [PSD3/PSR] should enable natural persons to manually or automatically fund or defund their local storage devices from or to the correspective digital euro payment accouunts at any point in time.

RemovedRecital 45 a (new): (45a) In order to ensure a transparent and level playing field between payment service providers and to avoid any hidden or duplicative costs for merchants, the total fees charged for digital euro payment transactions should be aggregated into a single merchant service charge. That merchant service charge should represent the totality of costs applied by payment service providers for acquiring services and should be expressed as a percentage of the total value of transactions processed over a given period, irrespective of the underlying pricing model. Payment service providers should not apply additional charges to merchants for automatic defunding operations related to digital euro payment accounts, where such transactions are executed with non-digital-euro payment accounts held with the same provider.

Added▌

RemovedRecital 45 b (new): (45b) The inter-PSP fee should provide sufficient compensation for the distribution costs of the distributing service providers.

Added(26) To support universal access to the digital euro by the general public in the euro area, and to foster innovation and a high level of competition in the retail payment market, all the relevant intermediaries should be able to distribute the digital euro. All account servicing payment service providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366, including credit institutions, electronic money institutions, payment institutions, post office giro institutions which are entitled under national law to provide payment services, the European Central Bank and national central banks of Member States whose currency is the euro, as part of the Eurosystem, when not acting in their capacity as monetary authority or other public authorities, and Member States or their regional or local authorities when not acting in their capacity as public authorities should be able to provide digital euro payment accounts and the related digital euro payment services, regardless of their location in the European Economic Area. Crypto asset services providers regulated under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and of the Council that are account servicing payment service providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 should also be allowed to distribute the digital euro. ▌

RemovedRecital 46: deleted

Added(27) In case the availability of the digital euro were contingent upon free business decisions by all payment service providers, the digital euro could be marginalised or even excluded by the payment service providers. That could prevent users from paying and receiving payments in a form of currency endowed with the status of legal tender. In that case, the singleness in the use of the digital euro throughout the euro area required by Article 133 TFEU, would not be guaranteed. It is therefore essential that designated payment service providers be required to distribute digital euro and provide mandatory digital euro acquiring services and that payees under the acceptance obligation have guaranteed access to mandatory digital euro acquiring services.

RemovedRecital 47: (47) An excessive distribution of the digital euro outside the euro area could have an unwanted impact on the size and composition of the consolidated balance sheet of the European Central Bank and national central banks. Impacts on monetary sovereignty and financial stability of non-euro area countries may also differ depending on the use of the digital euro outside the euro area. Those impacts could be harmful in case the digital euro replaces the local currency in a high number of domestic transactions. In particular, a situation in which the digital euro becomes dominant in a Member State whose currency is not the euro, thus de facto replacing the national currency, could interfere with the euro area adoption criteria and process set out in Article 140 TFEU. To avoid undesirable effects and prevent monetary sovereignty and financial stability risks, both within and outside the euro area, it is necessary to provide for the possibility for the Union to conclude agreements with third countries, and for the European Central Bank to conclude arrangements with the national central banks of Member States whose currency is not the euro and with the national central banks of third countries, to specify the conditions for the regular provision of digital euro payment services to digital euro users residing or established outside the euro area. Such agreements and arrangements should not cover visitors to the euro area, to whom payment service providers established in the European E…

Added(28) A requirement to distribute the digital euro should be proportionate to the objective of ensuring an effective use of the digital euro as a legal tender means of payment. Restricting that obligation to credit institutions that are already active in retail business services would ensure the effectiveness of legal tender status, while avoiding putting a disproportionate burden on payment service providers with specialised, non-consumer oriented business models. The obligation to distribute the digital euro is therefore limited to credit institutions providing payment account services at the request of their clients. This is without prejudice to the application of Chapter IV of the Payment Account Directive on access to payment account with basic features to the access to digital euro account with basic features to consumers which are not client of a credit institution. The obligation for payment service providers to provide mandatory digital euro acquiring services is limited to their clients who are under the acceptance obligation and to whom they already provide acquiring services.

RemovedRecital 51: (51) The use of the digital euro in cross-currency payments would facilitate cross-border payments for the purpose of trade or remittances, in line with the G20 agenda.

Added(29) To ensure a wide usage of the digital euro, including for people who do not have a non-digital euro payment account, do not wish to open a digital euro payment account at a credit institution or at another payment service providers that may distribute the digital euro, or persons with disabilities, functional limitations or limited digital skills, and elderly persons, it is essential that public entities, including local or regional authorities, or postal offices, distribute the digital euro. For that purpose, Member States should designate one or more public payment service providers that should carry out that task within their territory. In addition, Member States should be able to entrust such services to one or more private service providers, following a public procurement procedure for that purpose. Member States should also be permitted, by mutual agreeent with another Member State, to designate the authority designated in that other Member State to provide such services as its own designated authority, provided that its citizens are granted the same conditions and the same ease of access as they would receive if the authority were established in their own Member State. Such entities, as payment services providers under Directive (EU) 2015/2366, should comply with the provisions of this Regulation, including Directive (EU) 2015/2366 and Directive (EU) 2015/849.

RemovedRecital 54: (54) The technical design of the digital euro should make it widely accessible to and usable by the general public. That design should, in particular, support access to financially excluded persons or persons at risk of financial exclusion, persons with disabilities by ensuring compliance with accessibility requirements laid down in Annex I of Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and the Council32 (European Accessibility Act), persons with functional limitations who would also benefit from accessibility, or persons with limited digital skills and elderly persons. For that purpose, the digital euro should have usage features that are simple and easy to handle, and should be sufficiently accessible through a wide range of hardware devices to cater for the needs of different groups of the population. Furthermore, payment service providers should provide digital euro users with digital euro payment services, regardless of those users holding non-digital euro payment accounts. In addition, those users should be allowed to have online digital euro payment accounts with payment service providers that are different from the ones with which they have non-digital euro payment accounts.

Added(29a) To ensure that access to basic digital euro payment services is effective for vulnerable groups, the application of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) requirements should be specified in a manner that ensure consistency with, and does not undermine, the objective of financial inclusion. In particular, asylum seekers, beneficiaries of international protection, persons with no fixed address and third-country nationals who are not granted a residence permit but whose removal is impossible for legal or factual reasons, can face difficulties in satisfying standard customer due diligence requirements where they are unable to provide official identity documents or a proof of address. The Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA), established by Regulation (EU) 2024/1620 of the European Parliament and of the Council and the European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority) (EBA), esablished by Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council, should therefore, building on existing guidelines, specify the interaction between AML/CFT requirements and the provision of basic digital euro payment services, including the possibility of onboarding on the basis of alternative means of identification and verification or the conditions under which payment service providers are able to apply simplified due diligence or postpone verification where appropriate in accordance with a risk-based approach.

RemovedRecital 55: (55) The online digital euro should support conditional digital euro payment transactions by payment service providers. The digital euro should, however, not be “programmable money”, which means units that, due to intrinsically defined spending conditions, can only be used for buying specific types of goods or services, or are subject to time limits after which they are no longer usable. Conditional payment transactions are payments which are automatically triggered by software based on pre-defined and agreed conditions. Conditional payments should not have, as object or effect, the use of digital euro as programmable money. Payment service providers could develop different types of logic to offer a range of conditional payment transactions to online digital euro users, such as automated payment transactions for placing or withdrawing digital euros, payment standing orders that trigger automatic payments of a specific amount on a specific date, and payments between machines where those machines are programmed to automatically trigger payments for their own spare parts upon ordering them, for charging and paying electricity at most favourable market conditions, for paying insurance, and leasing and maintenance fees on a usage basis.

Added(29b) The digital euro should contribute to safeguarding the strategic autonomy of the Union and ensuring that natural and legal persons residing or established in the Union can access and use payment services without undue interference from third countries. To that end, the digital euro should be distributed through public providers or designated entities and ensure universal accessibility and continuity of access. Such distribution channels should contribute to protecting users from disruptions resulting from the extra-territorial application of third-country legislation or sanctions not recognised by the Union. Where persons or entities are affected by an undue interruption, restriction or denial of access to digital payments resulting from such extraterritorial effects of third-country sanctions, the Commission should be able to adopt targeted, temporary and proportionate exceptional measures to restore or preserve effective access to digital euro payment services. Such measures could include temporary adjustments to online or offline transaction or holding limits, the transfer of a digital euro account to a public provider or designated entity, or other operational measures necessary to ensure the continuity and effectiveness of access to the digital euro. Such measures are without prejudice to the application of any restrictive measure adopted by the Union and to the obligations of payment service providers under Union law relating to AML/CFT.

Change 8

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