Abstract

The purpose of the article is to clarify doubts and practical problems that arise in connection with the interpretation of the provisions of Regulation 924/2009 regarding equality of charges for cross-border payments in EUR as specified by Regulation 2019/518. They modify the obligation for payment service providers to ensure that charges levied for cross-border payments denominated in EUR are the same as charges levied for corresponding national payments in a national currency (corresponding domestic payments). Originally, the principle of equivalence of charges stated that the charges for cross-border payments in EUR should be the same as charges for corresponding national payments in EUR. Meanwhile, as a result of the changes introduced under Regulation 2019/518, as of 15 December 2019 charges for cross-border payments in EUR have to be the same as charges for corresponding national payments in the national currency of the Member State in which the payment service provider of the user is located. In addition, non-euro area Member States may decide to extend the application of the principle of equivalence to cross-border payments in their national currency. In practice, the interpretation and application of the provisions of Regulation 924/2009 arouses many doubts, which is largely due to the laconic nature of the regulation, which consists of only a few provisions. Additionally, they refer to a quite complicated matter of cross-border payments.