Payee-initiated transactions with irregular period or variable amounts for account payments.

Article 4, point (15), of Directive 2015/2366/EU (PSD2) defines a payment initiation service (PIS) as a service to initiate a payment order at the request of the payment service user (PSU) with respect to a payment account held at another payment service provider (PSP). Article 4, point (10) PSD2 defines ‘payment service user’ as a natural or legal person making use of a payment service in the capacity of payer, payee, or both. The payer’s right to make use of PISs, provided that the payer’s payment account is accessible online, is explicitly laid down in Article 66(1) of PSD2, together with several obligations for account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) and payment initiation service providers (PISPs) to ensure the payer’s right to use such services (Article 66, points (3) and (4) of PSD2). However, there is no equivalent provision in PSD2 that guarantees the right of the payee to make use of PISs for payee-initiated transactions. As a consequence, PSD2 neither excludes that payees may make use of PISs for their payee-initiated account transactions, nor guarantees a right for payees to make use of such PISs. PSD2 dates back to 2015. Since then, the initiation of payments has significantly developed in a way that was not anticipated by the co-legislators in 2015. The issue of whether the provision of PISs extends also to payee-initiated transactions is not addressed by the PSD2. It can therefore not be concluded that payee-initiated transactions which are available in ASPSPs’ direct online banking channels also have to be made available to third party providers through Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).   Disclaimer: The answers clarify provisions already contained in the applicable legislation. They do not extend in any way the rights and obligations deriving from such legislation nor do they introduce any additional requirements for the concerned operators and competent authorities. The answers are merely intended to assist natural or legal persons, including competent authorities and Union institutions and bodies in clarifying the application or implementation of the relevant legal provisions. Only the Court of Justice of the European Union is competent to authoritatively interpret Union law. The views expressed in the internal Commission Decision cannot prejudge the position that the European Commission might take before the Union and national courts.