On 24 July 2013, the Commission adopted a legislative package which proposes a revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2) and a Regulation on Multilateral Interchange Fees (MIFs). The changes in the Payment Services Directive include a.o. changes in scope, the addition of a new type of institution (Third Party Payment Services Processor) and further rules as to transaction authentication. The Regulation on MIFs seeks to cap the interchange fees for card payments to 0,3 and 0,2 % for international credit- and debit-transactions. Over time these limits would also apply to domestic transactions.
The publication of the draft rules signals the start of negotiations between parliament, European Commission and the European Council. The discussion on the PSD may well take longer than the current Parliamentary session, which ends in the Spring 2014. As a result the approval of the revision of the PSD and the MIF-regulation would occur at the earliest in the beginning of 2015. Whereas the MIF-regulation would be directly binding, the PSD must then be implemented by Member states, that are allowed two years to adapt their national laws.
Further background information on these regulations can be found on the website of the European Commission.