The information contained in this Newsletter is of a general nature and does not constitute legal advice


December 2009

LAW 16/2009 OF 13 NOVEMBER ON PAYMENT SERVICES: IMPLEMENTATION IN SPAIN OF THE EUROPEAN PAYMENT SERVICES DIRECTIVE
 

1.  SUBJECT MATTER AND SCOPE OF THE LPS (title i)

     (More Information)

1.1. Definition of payment services (More Information)

1.2. Authorised payment services providers (More Information)

2.  REGULATION OF PAYMENT INSTITUTIONS (title ii)

     (More Information)

3. TRANSPARENCY OF CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS FOR PAYMENT SERVICES, TERMINATION AND MODIFICATION OF THE FRAMEWORK CONTRACT (title iii)

(More Information)
 

4. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS IN RELATION TO THE PROVISION AND USE OF PAYMENT SERVICES (title iv)

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4.1. Obligations in relation to payment instruments (More Information)

4.2. Liability for unauthorised payment transactions (More Information)

4.3. Refund of authorised payment transactions. (More Information)

4.4. Burden of proof (More Information)

4.5. No liability (More Information)

5.  OTHER SIGNIFICANT ISSUES (More Information)

5.1. Penalties (More Information)

5.2. Transitional provisions for certain contracts (More Information)


On 14 November 2009, Law 16/2009 of 13 November on payment services (the “LPS”) was published in the Spanish Official Gazette (“Boletín Oficial del Estado”) (the “Gazette”). The main purpose of the LPS is to implement Directive 2007/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market (the “PSD”). The Member States’ deadline to implement the PSD was 1 November 2009. The LPS came into force on 4 December 2009 (twenty days after its publication in the Gazette).

Following the spirit of the PSD, the LPS establishes a legal framework that regulates the manner in which payment services are rendered in Spain, the entities that are authorised to provide these services, and the duties of both users and providers of payment services. Its aim is to ensure that cross-border and domestic payments in the European Union (EU) are treated in the same way.

The LPS partially implements the PSD, focusing on regulating those provisions that must be passed in a law. The remaining provisions of the PSD will be regulated in secondary legislation.

The text of the LPS has the same structure and contents as the PSD and focuses on: (i) the definition of the payment services to which it applies and the entities authorised to render them, (ii) the regulation of payment institutions; (iii) the rules on transparency and information requirements for payment services, and (iv) the rights and duties of payment services users and providers.

1. SUBJECT MATTER AND SCOPE OF THE LPS (tItLE i)

The LPS establishes that the rendering of payment services is an activity that only certain entities can perform as a regular occupation or business activity.

1.1. Definition of payment services

a) Payment services for the purposes of the LPS:

(i) the deposit and withdrawal of cash in a payment account and those transactions necessary for the management of payment accounts;

(ii) the execution of payment transactions (including transfers of funds) through a payment account with the payment services user’s provider or with any other payment services provider;

(iii) the execution of payment transactions when the funds are covered by a credit line opened for a user of such services;

(iv) the issuance and acquisition of payment instruments;

(v) money remittance; and

(vi) the execution of payment transactions in which the payer’s consent to each transaction is transferred by any telecommunication, digital or IT device, and the payment is made through the corresponding telecommunication, IT system or network operator, which only acts as an intermediary between the payment services user and the supplier of the goods and services.

b) Negative scope:

The LPS does not apply, among others, to:

(i) payment transactions made exclusively in cash;

(ii) professional physical transport of banknotes and coins;

(iii) money exchange business, when the funds are not held on a payment account;

(iv) payment transactions where the payment services provider places funds at the payee’s disposal through the issuance of paper documents such as cheques, vouchers, postal money orders or other drafts;

(v) payment transactions related to securities asset servicing, or redemption or sale, by entities allowed to have the custody of financial instruments;

(vi) payment transactions carried out between payment service providers, their agents or branches for their own account; or

(vii) payment transactions between companies within the same group, without any intermediary intervention, by a payment services provider not belonging to the same group. In connection with this exception, although the text of the LPS is the same as that of the Spanish version of the PSD, the English version of the PSD provides that payment transactions between companies within the same group must in fact be made by a payment services provider belonging to the same group.

1.2. Authorised payment services providers

In accordance with the LPS, the services listed in section 1.1.a) cannot be rendered by any individual or legal entity that does not have the status of payment services provider, or which is expressly excluded from the scope of the LPS. As a result, the rendering of the services is restricted to:

a)   Credit institutions.

b)   Electronic money institutions.

c)   Payment institutions.

d) The Spanish post office giro institution (namely, Sociedad Estatal de Correos y Telégrafos, S.A.) for those services it is entitled to render by virtue of the specific regulations applicable thereto.

e) The Bank of Spain, as well as the national (Administración General del Estado), regional (Comunidades Autónomas) and local authorities (Entidades Locales), when not acting in their capacity as public authorities.

2. REGULATION OF PAYMENT INSTITUTIONS (tITLE ii)

Payment institutions (“PI”) are a newly created figure, different from both credit institutions and electronic money institutions. The PI are subject to the supervision of the Bank of Spain (“Banco de España”, the Spanish regulator), and can be authorised to render all or some of the payment services listed in section 1.1.a). Under no circumstances are these entities entitled to take deposits or other repayable funds, nor issue electronic money.

Without prejudice to the above, the PI may grant credit related to the payment services referred to in points (iii), (v) and (vi) of section 1.1.a) if the following conditions are met:

(i) it is granted exclusively in connection with the execution of a payment transaction;

(ii) it is repaid within a period of no more than twelve (12) months;

(iii) it is not granted from the funds received or held for the purpose of executing a payment transaction; and

(iv) in view of the overall amount of credit granted, the own funds of the PI are at all times appropriate and to the satisfaction of the Bank of Spain.

The LPS has not regulated these entities in depth, but reproduced the text of the PSD. For those matters for which the PSD offered more than one choice and granted the Member States sufficient freedom to choose the option that they deemed most appropriate (initial capital, own funds, safeguarding requirements), the LPS has left this task to secondary legislation. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the LPS grants the Ministry of Economy and Treasury the power to authorise the creation of PI and the establishment in Spain of branches of PI from outside the EU (a PI authorised in one Member State can be authorised to operate in another following communication from one national supervisor to another).

3. TRANSPARENCY OF CONDITIONS AND INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS FOR PAYMENT SERVICES, TERMINATION AND MODIFICATION OF THE FRAMEWORK CONTRACT (TITLE III)

This section establishes limits to the manner in which the contractual relations arising from a contract between a payment services provider and a user of the same can be conducted. Title III of the PSD is careful in ensuring the consumer protection aims are achieved and, as such, when neither of the parties is a consumer they can opt not to apply its provisions.

The contents, the type of information, the conditions of the payment service as it must be rendered to the payment services user, and the time within which they must be performed are some of the matters left for secondary legislation (until this has been carried out, among other legal provisions, article 7.1 of Law 22/2007 of 11 July on distance rendering of financial services addressed to consumers will apply in connection with the distance rendering of financial services). Nevertheless, the LPS stipulates that the burden of proving compliance with the provisions of Title III lies with the payment services provider.

4. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS IN RELATION TO THE PROVISION AND USE OF PAYMENT SERVICES (tITLE iv)

Both the relation between payment services providers and payment services users and the procedure for the execution of payment orders, are regulated in significant detail.

4.1. Obligations in relation to payment instruments

a) Of the payment services user:

- To use the payment instrument in accordance with the terms governing the issue and use of the payment instrument, taking all reasonable steps to keep its personalised security features safe.

- To notify the payment service provider, or the entity specified by the latter, without undue delay on becoming aware of loss, theft or misappropriation of the payment instrument or of its unauthorised use.

- In the event of unauthorised or incorrectly executed payment transactions, the payment services user must notify its provider no later than thirteen (13) months after the debit date, provided that the payment services user has become aware of the transaction thanks to the information made available by the payment service provider. The parties can agree on a shorter term when the payment services user is not a consumer.b) Of the payment services provider:

- To make sure that the personalised security features of the payment instrument are not accessible to parties other than the payment service user entitled to use the payment instrument.

- To refrain from sending an unsolicited payment instrument (unless in case of replacement).

- To ensure that appropriate means are available at all times to enable the payment service user to make a notification for the loss, theft or misappropriation of the payment instrument, as well as the means to prove that such notification has been made for the next eighteen (18) months thereafter.

- To prevent all use of the payment instrument once notification concerning the loss, theft or misappropriation of the payment instrument has been made by the payment services user.

4.2. Liability for unauthorised payment transactions

a) The payment service provider must immediately refund to the payer the amount of the unauthorised payment transaction and, where applicable, restore the debited payment account to the state in which it would have been had the unauthorised payment transaction not taken place.

b) The payer:

- Must bear (i) the losses relating to any unauthorised payment transactions, up to a maximum of EUR 150, resulting from the use of a lost or stolen payment instrument, or (ii) all the losses relating to any unauthorised payment transactions if he incurred them by acting fraudulently or by failing to fulfil one or more of his obligations under section 3.1.a) above with intent or gross negligence.

- Except where he has acted fraudulently, the payer is not liable for the financial consequences resulting from (i) the use of the lost, stolen or misappropriated payment instrument after notification in accordance with section 3.1.a), second paragraph, nor (ii) the use of a payment instrument, if the payment services provider does not provide appropriate means for the notification at all times of a lost, stolen or misappropriated payment instrument.

4.3. Refund of authorised payment transactions

The payer is entitled to a refund from his payment service provider of an authorised payment transaction initiated by or through a payee which has already been executed, if the following conditions are met: (i) the authorisation did not specify the exact amount of the payment transaction when the authorisation was made, and (ii) the amount of the payment transaction exceeded the amount the payer could reasonably have expected taking into account his previous spending pattern.

For direct debits, the payer and his payment service provider may agree in the framework contract that the payer is entitled to a refund from his payment service provider even though the conditions for refund in the previous paragraph are not met. The parties may also agree that the payer has no right to a refund where he has given his consent to execute the payment transaction directly to his payment service provider and he had received the information on the future payment transaction at least four weeks before the due date.

In any event, the payer must request the refund within a period of eight weeks from the date on which the funds were debited from his account. Within the following ten (10) business days, the payment service provider must either refund the full amount of the payment transaction or provide justification for refusing to refund, indicating the procedures that are at the payer’s disposal if he does not accept the justification provided.

4.4. Burden of proof

The payment services provider bears the burden of proving that a payment transaction was duly authorised, registered and accounted in the event that the user denies having authorised an executed transaction or claims that it was not correctly executed.

4.5. No liability

The LPS provides that liability established in accordance with the provision thereunder shall not apply in cases of abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances, which are beyond the control of the party pleading for the application of those circumstances, and the consequences of which would have been unavoidable despite all efforts to the contrary, or where a payment service provider is bound by other legal obligations.

5. OTHER SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

5.1. Penalties

a) PI are subject to the penalties set out in Law 26/1988 on intervention and discipline of credit institutions, and to the penalty procedure established for entities taking part in financial markets. These rules may be extended to those individuals or legal persons which have a significant holding in a PI.

b) Provisions under the LPS in relation to the rules applicable to PI, the obligations on transparency of conditions and applicable information requirements, and those concerning out-of-court redress procedures are considered as rules of regulation and discipline for payment services providers.

c) Those activities carried out by branches or agents of payment services providers authorised in other EU Member States will also be subject to the regime set forth under this section in the event that they infringe the provisions under the LPS with regard to the obligations on transparency of conditions, applicable information requirements and concerning the respective rights and obligations of payment services providers and users.

5.2. Transitional provisions for certain contracts

- Those contracts entered into by credit institutions and their customers to regulate the conditions applicable to the rendering of payment services now subject to the LPS will still be valid, although they will have to be adapted to the current legal framework within a term of twelve (12) months (eighteen (18) months for credit or debit card contracts). Notwithstanding this, those conditions more favourable for customers who are individuals will be applied from the entry into force of the LPS.

- Consent: amendments referred to in the previous paragraph will be deemed to be tacitly accepted provided that the customer has not expressly rejected them within a term of three (3) months after the receipt of a communication with respect thereto, or if, within one (1) month after such receipt, the customer applies for a new service under the amended contract. Rejection of the proposed amendments will allow the customer to terminate the contract in force until then without any charge.

- Subjects bound: the provisional rules set out in this section will also be applied to those contracts entered into by currency exchange institutions and their clients to regulate the management of money transfers with other countries, and to any other legal entities that were carrying out PI activities before 25 December 2007.

 

18 December 2009.

The information contained in this Newsletter is of a general nature and does not constitute legal advice