Exclusion of cash withdrawal services from PSD2

Card issuers provide cash withdrawal services to their customers which often extend to automated teller machines (ATMs) from other networks. Those ATMs may either belong to payment service providers within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (PSD2) or to other ATM providers, which are not payment service providers. To offer a service which extends to the ATMs of other networks, card issuers usually enter into a contractual relationship with ATM providers, either bilaterally or multilaterally, to agree on the technical and business rules governing the execution of the transaction, which also includes the charging aspects. Issuers usually enter such contracts with individual payment service providers, a consortium of payment service providers or other ATM providers that do not hold a license to provide payment services. ATM operators which do not provide other payment services than cash withdrawals and are not a party to the framework contract with the customer withdrawing cash exist and are exempted from the scope of PSD2 under Article 3(o) if they are also acting on behalf of issuers. In particular, ATM providers act on behalf of issuers once they have entered bilateral/multilateral contracts with issuers, governing the technical and businesses aspects linked to the service. The fact that card issuers and ATM operators would be operating under the same card scheme rules would suffice to establish the condition referred to in the preceding paragraph for the exclusion from scope under Article 3(o) PSD2, provided that such scheme rules specify that the latter act on behalf of the former and specify the technical and business aspects related to the execution of the ATM transaction. It follows from the above that each case must be analyzed in its own terms.   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.