On November 13th, 2019, there was published in the Romanian Official Gazette, Part I, No. 913, the Law No. 209/2019 on payment services and the amendment of certain legal acts (“Payment Services Law”).
The Payment Services Law transposes within the Romanian legal framework the regulations provided under the Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services in the internal market (“PSD2”), which essentially sets out an enhanced consumer protection within the payments services ecosystem, by promoting innovation and improving the security of payment services across the entire European Union and also ensures a legal framework more suited to the current e-commerce innovations available across the European Union.
Also, the PSD2 aims primarily to regulate the access conditions to payment services business activities, the supervision of payment services institutions, the legal regime relating to the transparency of the conditions and information requirements applicable to regulated payment services, the rights and obligations of the users of payment services and respectively of payments services providers, as well as various other relevant aspects within this financial sector.
The implementation of the PSD 2 within the Romanian legal framework was supposed to be performed by January 13th, 2018 but was ultimately implemented following the commencement of an infringement procedure initiated against Romania by the European Commission.
The regulations provided under the Payment Services Law basically mirror the provisions included within the PSD 2 and introduced certain new aspects within the Romanian payment services market, such as:
- The service of initiating payments which is provided by a payment service provider which initiates a payment order at the request of the user of the payment services in relation to a payment account opened with another payment services provider; or
- The service of providing account information which will be provided by an information service provider regarding accounts and is an online service to provide consolidated information in connection with one or more payment accounts owned by the paying service user.
Moreover, as distinct from the former legal framework which regulated the payment services sector (i.e. the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 113/ 2009 on payment services), the regulations regarding the transparency and the information requirements for payment services providers, as well as those relating to the rights and obligations ancillary to the performance and utilization of payment services will be applicable, if the case, to the operations in which one of the payment services providers is located outside the European Economic Area (EEA), in order to avoid any different perspectives from one Member State to another on the expense of the users of the payment services.
The Payment Services Law will enter into force 30 days from its publication within the Romanian Official Gazette (i.e. from November 13th, 2019). Payment services providers which are authorised by the National Bank of Romania on the date of entry into force of the Payment Services Law, have the obligation to implement the new regulations imposed within a period of 6 months from the date of entry into force, which will commence from December 13th, 2019.
